Atkinson Housing Needs Assessment

Housing is a hot topic everywhere and Atkinson is no exception. The question is how can Atkinson integrate housing options into the existing fabric of the community. The first step is to engage the town in a conversation about housing to identify the priorities and strategies that best accommodate the community’s needs.

In 2023, the Atkinson Planning Board was awarded a grant from InvestNH Municipal Planning & Zoning Grant Program’s Housing Opportunity Program Needs Assessment Grant (HOP Grant) to prepare a to prepare a community Housing Needs Assessment and Regulatory Audit to fund the public engagement, analysis, and doucmentation answering the question "what should the future of housing be in Atkinson ?" The primary tasks in this project include:

• Conducting a series of surveys to seek feedback from residents, businesses, and officials on housing preference to help guide potential action.
• Develop a housing needs assessment that evaluates the housing status, demographics, and housing-related issues within Atkinson. This assessment will include guidance about tools and potential changes to local regulations, their impact on housing opportunities, and their relation to Atkinson eesidents’ priorities and community goals. The assessment will be presented to the Planning Board in and will include the summary of input from the public engagement.
• Conducting an audit of Atkinson’s land use regulations to identify opportunities to make modifications to existing regulations or enact new regulations to promote the goals and actions found within the proposed updated Master Plan. The audit will include recommendations to assist the town in meeting its identified housing goals and actions based on the recently update Master Plan, along with fulfilling housing requirements under state law.
• Hold a public input event to present the background information, discuss housing preferences in Atkinson gained from the survey and other sources, and allow for facilitated discussion related to housing that may fit Atkinson’s needs and desires.

The Atkinson Planning Board is working with Rockingham Planning Commission to assist with this effort over the coming months. All information about this project will be posted on the Atkinson town website at: www.town-atkinsonnh.com/planning-board. 

For any questions about this project, please contact Sue Coppeta, Atkinson Planning & Zoning Administrator at landuse@atkinson-nh.gov or 603-362-5761.

THIS  PROJECT IS BEING SUPPORTED,  IN  WHOLE  OR  IN  PART  BY  FEDERAL  AWARD  NUMBERS  L F R P 0 1 4 5  AWARDED TO THE STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE BY THE  U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY.