Shaheen Tours Affordable Housing Development in Conway to Discuss Construction Progress and Energy Codes
(Washington, DC) – Today, U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) toured the affordable housing development at Avesta’s River Turn Apartments complex to discuss their progress delivering affordable housing to Mount Washington Valley. Avesta’s apartments are built beyond the 2021 building energy codes, lowering residents’ utility bills while maintaining a safe temperature in their home. Avesta broke ground on the first River Turn Apartments building in 2022, which was completed in December 2023 and is comprised of 40 units. Photos from the event can be found here.
“Financial and economic success for working families begins with access to reliable, affordable housing,” said Senator Shaheen. “Addressing the housing crisis in New Hampshire and across the country will require innovative and collaborative solutions to develop the 60,000 units of housing New Hampshire needs by 2030. Avesta’s River Turn Apartments in Conway are helping lead the way by continuing efforts to increase the supply of affordable and energy-efficient housing in the Granite State.”
Shaheen is a leader in the Senate on efforts to tackle the housing affordability crisis, including by helping to ensure Granite Staters have the resources they need to thrive. Shaheen recently applauded more than $30 million in federal grants for New Hampshire to build more affordable housing in New Hampshire.
As a senior member of the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee and Chair of the Commerce, Justice, Science Appropriations Subcommittee, Shaheen worked to include key provisions from her Strategy and Investment in Rural Housing Preservation Act in the FY24 Agriculture and Related Agencies Appropriations Act which was signed into law in March. Shaheen’s standalone legislation would ensure that hundreds of thousands of low-income tenants in rural areas are able to maintain access to safe and affordable housing. Another Shaheen-led bipartisan bill to increase access to rural housing was signed into law the same day. Together, the two bills will bolster existing rural housing options, make new construction easier and protect renters across the Granite State.
Shaheen has long championed efforts to lower the cost of housing through modernizing building energy codes and recently wrote an op-ed in the Union Leader urging the State of New Hampshire to adopt the latest building energy codes and access federal funding that she helped secure in the Inflation Reduction Act.
Shaheen also helped introduced the Fighting Homelessness Through Services and Housing Act to help local governments reduce homelessness as well as a bicameral bill that would protect the rights of residents of manufactured housing communities. Shaheen secured over $22 million in Congressionally Directed Spending in the FY24 government funding bills to address New Hampshire’s housing, transportation and urban development needs.
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