REDC Launches Building Roots Home Fund
REDC has launched the Building Roots Home Fund, a program to support the development of new rental properties with a minimum of five units in New Hampshire. The fund will focus on workforce housing for low- to moderate-income persons.
LOAN RANGE
$500,000 - $3,000,000
3% - 10%
% OF PROJECT
3% of the REDC loan amount with a minimum fee of $30,000, with the option to roll the fee into the principal amount.
FEE
​The Fund will provide loans from $500,000 to $3,000,000 to developers who are developing projects with at least 20% of the units available to people earning 80% of the Area Median Income (AMI) or less. Preference is given to projects with a higher percent of affordable units.
REDC has long recognized workforce housing development as an integral part of New Hampshire's economic needs through its work writing and publishing the annual Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS) and partnering with the Workforce Housing Coalition of the Greater Seacoast in the past by holding housing charrettes. REDC has worked with various developers for many years on commercial and residential mixed-use properties and is honored to have already assisted with creating more affordable housing.
To apply for a Building Roots Home Fund, interested developers can reach out to Laurel@redc.com.
What is Workforce Housing?
In New Hampshire, workforce housing is defined as rental housing affordable to households earning up to 60 percent of the area median income (AMI) and for-sale housing affordable to households earning up to 100 percent of AMI. Affordability is defined as gross housing costs that do not exceed 30 percent of household income. Simply put, workforce housing is housing for members of the workforce including the essential members of every community: schoolteachers, firefighters, police officers, medical personnel, librarians, local shop owners, and more. Further reading: Not What, but Who, is Workforce Housing?
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The New Hampshire Housing Finance Authority has developed resources to support communities in their efforts to expand housing affordability, supply, and diversity.
Meeting the Workforce Housing Challenge Guidebook is designed to help municipal land use boards meet state workforce housing law requirements and shape future growth in their communities.
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Housing Solutions Handbook for New Hampshire offers tools and techniques to provide affordable and workforce housing development opportunities.
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Accessory Dwelling Units in New Hampshire: A Guide for Municipalities is designed to help municipalities meet New Hampshire’s ADU law and shape future development of ADUs in their community.
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These resources and more are available at:
Housing Projects of Interest
Stevens Mills, Franklin, NH
In 2022, REDC financed the Stevens Mill project with a $500,000 loan to redevelop the former nineteenth-century Stevens Mill complex into 147 market-rate apartments and 32,000 sf of commercial space.
The Chinburg Companies developed and managed the property, which contains four primary buildings and two accessory structures grouped along the Winnipesaukee River, in Franklin, NH.
Monadnock Mills, Claremont, NH
In 2021, REDC provided funding to the Monadnock Mills project to redevelop the former nineteenth-century Monadnock Mill into 83 market-rate apartments. The Chinburg Companies developed and managed the property, which is situated along the picturesque Sugar River in downtown Claremont, NH.
Marshall Street Apartments, Nashua, NH
In 2018, REDC awarded a $300,000 loan in support of the Marshall Street Apartments through the EPA Brownfields Program to clean up the five-acre site at Marshall and East Hollis Streets. The project provided 152-units of much-needed rental housing affordable to members of Nashua’s workforce. The four four-story buildings contained a mixed of one-, two-, and three-bedroom apartments affordable to households making up to 60 percent of the area median income.
Cotton Mill Square, Nashua, NH
In 2013, REDC awarded a $160,000 loan in support of the Cotton Mill Square through the EPA Brownfields Program to clean up PCBs, asbestos, and lead paint at 30 Front Street in Nashua. A historic mill building, Cotton Mill Square was rehabilitated into 109 residential apartment units. The project is mixed-income, with 51 percent of the apartments affordable to moderate-income earners. In addition, the project added 1,200 square feet to the Nashua Riverwalk and created new, permanent jobs.
Railroad Land, Keene, NH
In partnership with the Monadnock Economic Development Corporation, REDC awarded a $317,000 loan in 2013 to support the Railroad Land Redevelopment Project in Keene through the EPA Brownfields Program to clean up petroleum, trichloroethylene, coal ash, lead, arsenic, MTBE, and TCE. The multi-phased redevelopment project was consistent with the city’s vision of creating a neighborhood on the east side of downtown Keene. The redevelopment of the land will enhance the economic vitality of the downtown, while creating over 150 new jobs and housing opportunities.
Charrette to the West
In 2018, REDC launched the “Charrette to the West” housing design charrette program. Using the Workforce Housing Coalition’s charrette model, REDC is able to offer charrettes to these thirteen communities: Auburn, Atkinson, Derry, Hampstead, Hudson, Litchfield, Londonderry, Nashua, Merrimack, Pelham, Plaistow, Salem, and Windham.
Please note, REDC communities not listed may apply to host a charrette anytime through www.seacoastwhc.org.
Pelham, NH
May 2019
The inaugural REDC charrette was hosted by the Town of Pelham and explored workforce housing in the mixed-use zoning district in the village center. The charrette team’s challenge was to create financially feasible workforce housing without municipal sewer and while maintaining the small-town charm that Pelham residents love. The charrette team focused on missing middle housing, drafting beautiful cottage clusters on the test site. The result was the passage of an amendment to the town’s accessory dwelling unit ordinance, which passed at the 2020 municipal election.
Charrette to the West
Pelham, NH May 2019
Housing Study
Antonio Serna, REDC's Housing Program Intern in 2021, researched and wrote "Conditions for Housing Development: An Intersection of Structural and Cultural Opportunity in New Hampshire." This study explores the lack of affordable housing by looking at the way housing development is both supported and hindered within the local approval process. Read the study here:
Exeter Charrette
Exeter, NH October 2017