Community Engagement
Community engagement is critical to making advancing diverse housing options. The community must have a voice in the future of their municipality or progress will not be made. Here you will find resources to help with community engagement. As always, don't hesitate to reach out with questions!
This guide, produced by New Hampshire Housing, walks municipalities through the benefits and process of establishing a municipal Housing Commission or Committee. These entities serve as a hub for community engagement and discussion of housing at the municipal level. Too often housing discussions happen in the heat of the moment around a specific development, but these local entities ensure that it's an ongoing discussion focusing on local solutions. In the Workforce Housing Coalition region, Durham, Exeter, Lee, and Portsmouth have all established local commissions, committees, or task forces. Click the link above to read the guide.
The University of New Hampshire Cooperative Extension brings communities together to work through complex problems. Learn more about their community engagement academy, community profiles, articles, and more at their website linked above.
This resource, prepared by the University of New Hampshire's Cooperative Extension, walks you through various types and tools for community engagement. Community engagement can take many different forms; this great resource explains the differences between thick engagement, thin engagement, and conventional engagement, and tactics for each type.
This guide, prepared by New Hampshire Housing, takes on the ever-present challenge of how do we talk about housing? Poll after poll shows that housing is one of the top issues facing Granite Staters, but many solutions continue to face pushback. This guide focuses on community engagement and language that can be used to further a productive conversation.