Presidential Candidates, NH Officials and Top Experts to Address Housing Crisis
WASHINGTON, D.C. – October 9, 2015 – (RealEstateRama) — U.S. presidential candidates of both parties will join top New Hampshire officials and national experts for a major housing summit on Friday, Oct. 16, at the New Hampshire Institute of Politics at Saint Anselm College in Manchester, N.H.
Presidential candidates Chris Christie, Lindsey Graham, Mike Huckabee, Martin O’Malley and George Pataki are scheduled to participate in the summit, where they along with New Hampshire officials and national housing experts will tackle what has been called the “silent crisis” of rising rents and diminished access to homeownership.
U.S. Senator Kelly Ayotte, former Senator Scott Brown, former HUD Secretary Henry Cisneros and Manchester Mayor Ted Gatsas are among the public figures pitching in to help find solutions to these worsening problems.
Several data points show the severity of the situation in N.H. and nationally:
In 2013, nearly 36 percent of New Hampshire’s 519,000 households paid more than 30 percent of their gross incomes on housing (the traditional measure of affordability), while some 78,000 paid more than 50 percent, according to a recent Harvard study.
Since 2000, median rents in the state have increased by nearly 50 percent, while median incomes for renters increased only 24 percent over the same period, according to New Hampshire Housing.
Nationally, a record number of households, nearly 12 million, spent more than half their income just on rent in 2013. Rising rents continue to burden families throughout the country.
The national homeownership rate has fallen to a 48-year low. The homeownership rates for young adults and minority households have plummeted.
Sponsored by the J. Ronald Terwilliger Foundation for Housing America’s Families and the Bipartisan Policy Center, the summit will run from 8:00 a.m.- 5:00 p.m ET.
Members of the press wishing to attend, please RSVP to the summit’s New Hampshire media contact, Drew Cline,
The summit is strictly an educational event and will not involve any political activity as that term is defined under the Internal Revenue Code. All presidential candidates were extended an invitation to participate in the Summit on an equal basis without any direct or indirect support. The J. Ronald Terwilliger Foundation for Housing America’s Families and the Bipartisan Policy Center are public charities organized under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, and contributions to them are deductible by the contributor to the extent allowed by law.
CONTACT
Joann Donnellan
Senior Advisor
(703) 966-1990
