This is an open letter to the 67 Republicans who voted with 152 Democrats to pass bills in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals on March 28, 2024. Did you realize what you were voting for?
California has outlawed single-family neighborhoods and built scores of stack’n’pack rental housing. The result? Their housing prices are still among the highest in the nation and climbing higher still. We’ve seen just how much homelessness and crime exists in that state, as they are at the epicenter of flash mob thefts and street encampments seen in the news. Who remembers San Francisco’s “poop map“?
Bills such as HB 1291 and the slew of other bills that were passed in the House on March 28, 2024 or “Strong Towns” day as Rep Sweeney deemed it, will basically work to favor developers while ERADICATING neighborhoods that were previously single-family zoned, all across NH!
Rep Joe Sweeney, along with Reps Alexander, Yokela and Berry are all involved in the sponsorship of these bills.
Who or what is “Strong Towns“? The organization is a New Urbanist-aligned group whose mission is “ending the suburban experiment“. This includes pushing for an “End to Highway Expansion” and parking lots (aimed at discouraging ownership of cars) and promoting “Incremental Housing” (multi-unit) by right, in any currently existing single-family zoned neighborhood.
Who is NH Rep. Sweeney? NH Reps like Joe Sweeney and Rep. Joe Alexander are both proud graduates of the liberal far-left Carsey Institute of UNH – a program that promotes The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals to which they have linked. This mission is stated on the front page of the Carsey Institute’s website.
“The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals are a touchstone for our faculty, staff, and students as we strive to make our communities more equitable and sustainable.”
So now you know on what philosophies the New Urbanism/Strong Towns agendas are based.
Our view:
– Is it the state’s purview to mandate housing? NO.
– Does this agenda benefit the taxpayers? NO.
– Is this agenda pro-family? NO.
– Is this agenda pro-middle class? NO.
– Should a political party’s platform reflect this agenda? NO.
Some of these bills seek to hand tax breaks to developers, sometimes allowing their projects to be free of property taxes for up to 7-10 years, or as SB 538 states, “tax on a qualifying structure shall not increase as a result of the substantial rehabilitation thereof or conversion from office, industrial, or commercial use to residential use.”
This tax burden is then shifted onto the homeowners in single-family neighborhoods.
If you make improvements to your home, would you be afforded the same? Hardly. Instead, your home would be assessed for an even higher amount and you would then be taxed accordingly.
These bills have provisions that not only favor developers and renters while taking the choice of living style away from 80% of all those surveyed who prefer single-family home ownership. Bills such as SB 538 shift the tax burden to homeowners thus making single-family homes even more scarce and more expensive!
SB 538 passed the Senate. It is now up to good Republicans to kill it in the HOUSE.
HB 1291, HB 1399 and HB 1361 (trailer parks?) passed the House with the help of these 67 Republicans. We can only hope the Senate will kill all of these bills before NH is turned into a rental nightmare.
Accommodate renters all you want. But please don’t do it at the expense of the 80% of Americans who have aspired to, or chosen to live in single-family homes.