Community Solutions: Lessons Learned from Manchester
Top 3 Takeaways:
Coalesce Around an Existing Issue
Build a Strong Coaltion
Use Storytelling to Enact Incremental Change
Coalescing Around an Existing Issue
Manchester and New Hampshire are grappling with a persistent housing shortage that is impacting the state’s economy and the well-being of local communities. This shortage is partly a result of policy decisions, particularly restrictive zoning regulations that limit the availability of affordable homes. In August 2021, the Manchester Planning Board adopted a master plan for the city that included recommendations to update the city’s zoning ordinance. In response to the planning staff’s first draft of an updated zoning ordinance, 603 Forward and NH Youth Movement convened Manchester Neighbors Welcome, a pro-housing coalition. We saw the city’s project as an opportunity for Manchester to set a precedent for other towns and cities by adopting common-sense zoning standards that promote the construction of more homes.
Coalition Building
When it came to building a coalition, we sought out organizations, businesses, and community leaders that were invested in Manchester and wanted to forge a better housing landscape for working residents and young families. Collectively, we identified our core beliefs, group norms, and a strategy. Each coalition member brought a different perspective and level of expertise. Following the analysis of the first updated ordinance draft, the coalition published a petition calling on the Manchester planning staff to allow more home types in more zones, remove parking mandates citywide, and align accessory dwelling unit (ADU) rules with best practices. Together, these specific and incremental changes would go a long way towards meeting Manchester’s housing needs.
Spreading the Word
Coalition members sought to involve as many residents as possible in the city’s ordinance update project. Manchester Neighbors Welcome created a website to centralize information about the city’s project, coalition, and zoning. The Manchester planning department broadcast information about the ward meetings and community survey through mail and local news outlets. Our coalition recognized a significant gap in whom those efforts might accidentally exclude. Members shared the ward hearing dates and survey link through mass texts and emails. We were able to group our existing contacts by location, ensuring individuals would have access to information specific to their ward. We also made social media graphics for coalition members to share with their network. Our coalition even held a press conference to uplift the city’s efforts and amplify the need to implement our suggestions. The extra communication ensured young folks, renters, and marginalized communities had the opportunity to engage with the ordinance update process.
Storytelling
Data can be a compelling storytelling tool. Over 1,000 people attended the planning staff’s ward meetings and 1,500 people completed their survey. The survey report found that 77% of residents agreed: more homes were important. A large majority of respondents determined that the cost of housing in Manchester must come down, and that various types of housing should be built across the city. Similarly, the ward hearing report concluded that residents in all twelve wards saw housing affordability as a critical issue. The collection and release of this data was invaluable in conveying the message that all Manchester residents needed more home types and greater affordability.
Personal stories were particularly persuasive when communicating the impacts of the housing shortage and why the city needed to enact zoning reform. Fifteen people told their stories at the Board’s final public hearing for the ordinance in November of 2025. Young people spoke about being priced out of their home city. Elderly residents explained the struggle to find adequate housing to age in place. Young parents articulated how difficult it is to find starter homes for reasonable prices. The Planning Board Chair even spoke in favor of the ordinance, citing it as a signal to the city and the state that they were taking the housing shortage seriously in Manchester. These stories informed the Board of Mayor and Aldermen’s decision to pass the updated zoning ordinance.
Community Engagement
During the ordinance update process, the planning staff quietly made revisions, leaving gaps in action. We continually engaged with the community through innovative ways so that the public could continue to take action and connect with the city planning staff. Our coalition members wrote op-eds for local media outlets. The public contacted us and asked questions through our social media, coalition members wrote op eds, we disseminated pro-housing yard signs, and we put up an electronic billboard downtown. In the summer of 2025, the coalition held three “Housing Parties” across Manchester. Hosted in a brewery, coffee shop, and library, these gatherings were informal ways for people to learn about the coalition and how zoning affects affordability. This continuous outreach communicated the city’s project to like-minded residents and grew our coalition.
Winning Incremental Change
In December of 2025, the Board of Mayor and Aldermen adopted an updated zoning ordinance that allowed for more home types in more zones, cut red tape for property owners, decreased parking minimums citywide, and eliminated roadblocks to building ADUs. Years of our hard work and collective action paid off. The progress brought by local government is slow moving, forcing our coalition to find ways to keep the public engaged. It was imperative to establish effective messaging and community trust. While there is always more work to be done, the policies included in the updated ordinance is a great place to start. Our work in Manchester may be finished, but we plan to aid in similar local work across the state. We want to empower you to engage in this work in your own community. By legalizing homes of all shapes and sizes, we can provide a future where all Granite Staters have access to more affordable housing.
