Included below is a link to the draft Housing Needs Assessment Report without appendices, as well as links to the individual sections of the report.  

Housing Needs Assessment Report (draft report without appendices)

1. Executive Summary and Introduction
2. Demographic & Economic Profile
3. Housing Inventory & Analysis
4. Housing Market Trends
5. Community and Stakeholder Input 
6. Housing Needs Assessment
7. Housing Resiliency
8. Key Housing Challenges and Needs & Housing Strategy
9. Appendices: Data Sources, Survey Results, and Resiliency Mapping Analysis

Overview

The City of Keene is working with Camoin Associates to complete a comprehensive housing needs analysis for the City of Keene that articulates the critical issues, opportunities, and solutions to address the community’s housing needs. The assessment will document existing housing conditions within the City of Keene; identify market and other forces that affect housing supply and demand now and over the next 10 years; and identify gaps or deficiencies in maintaining equitable access to safe, resilient, and reliable housing to as many City residents as possible.

Project Schedule

This project kicked off in late October/early November 2022, and is expected to wrap up in June 2023. There will be a virtual presentation to the Planning, Licenses, and Development Committee on Wednesday, June 7th.

The table below shows the tentative project schedule, broken down by task. 

Community Housing Open House April 20th - Thank you for attending!

A Community Housing Open House was held on Thursday, April 20 from 3:30-5:30 pm at the Hannah Grimes Center. Attendees learned about Keene's proposed housing strategy and were asked to provide feedback using dot stickers and an online poll. 

Community Housing Workshop February 7th - Thank you for attending!

Thank you to everyone who attended the Housing Workshop on February 7. The goal of this workshop was to hear from as many people as possible about housing-related issues, concerns, and ideas. Input from this workshop will inform the housing needs analysis as well as the proposed housing strategy in the final report. Attendees also got a preview of the data collected so far from the project consultant firm, Camoin Associates.

Click HERE to view the presentation slides from the workshop. 

Resources

Regional Housing Needs Assessment (Southwest Region Planning Commission)

Draft City of Keene Housing Inventory (February 2020)

Background

Today, the City is experiencing significantly different demographic trends and socioeconomic circumstances than the decades following World War II, which is when many of the City’s residential zoning districts last underwent a comprehensive update. These years were characterized by substantial in-migration and rapid housing development.  During this era, the paradigm for planning and land use regulation was focused on limiting or in some instances controlling growth.  In more recent years, the City’s growth rates have sharply slowed and are projected to stay low over the next thirty years.  Keene faces considerable challenges including a rapidly aging population, slow economic recovery, loss of youth and young professionals, and increased competition in an increasingly globalized society. Housing has been identified as a critical challenge for many years and is now at the crisis stage, affecting the local economy and workforce retention and recruitment.

The highest priority implementation strategy of Keene’s Comprehensive Master Plan is to “Rewrite the City’s Land Use and Zoning Regulations to Proactively Achieve the Community’s Vision for the Future.” In May 2021, the City made major strides toward this goal with the adoption of a comprehensive land use code update that combined the City’s zoning and land use regulations into a single document, the Keene Land Development Code (LDC). This effort was focused mainly on re-organizing and streamlining regulations, in addition to creating new form-based zoning districts in the downtown. The next phase of this project involves reexamining the City’s residential and other zoning districts outside the downtown and assessing how well the City’s regulations align with the community’s Master Plan goals, including those related to housing.

Housing Resilience Walking Tour - May 16, 3:00-4:30 PM

Join the City of Keene, Ben Frost from the NH Housing Finance Authority, and Keith Thibault from Southwestern Community Services for a walking tour showcasing housing issues and opportunities in a "missing middle" neighborhood adjacent to downtown Keene. The 1.25 mile guided tour will begin and end at Pat Russell Park located on Carpenter Street.  Participants will hear from housing experts and local officials regarding different tools, programs and funding sources that communities can use to encourage housing (existing and new) that meets the needs of the community. This tour is part of the 2023 Local Solutions: Climate Migration conference organized by the Antioch University Center for Climate Preparedness and Community Resilience. 
 

Please Register Online For The Walking Tour

Thank you for taking the Housing Resilience Survey!

Building on regional housing efforts, the City of Keene is working to understand the resiliency of Keene’s housing stock and housing needs in Keene, including those due to aging infrastructure and the impacts of climate change. This survey will help Keene describe current housing supply and affordability and inform future action by the City. The survey closed on February 17. Thank you for your participation!

See the Survey Results