Diversifying the Housing Stock
By Gregory T. Federspiel
May 23, 2025
It has been a busy few years regarding housing. The Town’s first 40B application in decades came in, an apartment complex was purchased with the intent of making all units officially affordable in the eyes of the state and zoning changes have been adopted that should allow for smaller lower-cost homes or apartments. However, the Town has yet to see any appreciable new construction that increases the diversity of housing options in town.
The proposed Shingle Hill apartment complex remains tied up in the appeal process. This 134 unit complex proposed on land off Upper School Street across from Atwater Avenue was turned down by the ZBA over various safety and environmental concerns. The Developer appealed to the state’s Housing Appeals Committee. The HAC granted approval but the Town and the Ten Citizen’s group have since appealed this ruling to the courts. The land is simply not well suited for the proposed project. We can expect the courts to take up the case sometime in the next 12 months or so. In the meantime, there are efforts underway to see if some sort of settlement might be possible.
During the earlier stages of the 40B project, an opportunity emerged to purchase the Powder House Hill apartment complex at the end of Elm Street and designate the 29 units as official affordable housing. This project emerged through a partnership with the North Shore Community Development Corporation (NSCDC) and private citizens. The process for getting the units listed as state recognized affordable housing has taken a long time.
The state requires an approved Affirmative Fair Housing Plan for units that are designated as affordable. Plans must provide for a lottery system that is open to all qualified individuals for selecting occupants of a unit. Because the current occupants did not go through a pre-approved selection process, none of the units at this time can been added to the Town’s official Subsidized Housing Inventory (SHI). While this is disappointing, the good news is that going forward the NSCDC will have an approved selection process and as units turn over, they will be added to the Town’s SHI. Once 25% of the units have been added, all 29 should count. The state has a requirement that all towns have at least 10% of their housing stock officially designated as affordable. Manchester is only at 5% thus adding these 29 units will certainly help.
The new 3A overlay districts voters approved, while not expected to generate a flood of new units, should result in a modest number of new housing units in the coming years. The same is true with the recently adopted Accessory Dwelling Unit zoning amendments. We could see a modest increase in these units with the new rules in place.
The Affordable Housing Trust continues to pursue possible projects, including the option of partnering with the Manchester Housing Authority on a renovation and expansion project involving the Newport Park and The Plains complexes. There may be an opportunity to work with Gordon College on land they own along Upper Pine Street that would be a combination of land preservation and housing. Finding suitable sites for housing is a real challenge in Manchester particularly for government entities that cannot move as fast as private parties.
Diversifying the housing stock remains an important priority. Getting new projects built will require persistence and some old-fashioned luck.