
New Hampshire is Getting More Affordable Housing, But Making Ends Meet Will Still Be Tight
The Portsmouth Housing Authority was just awarded the contract to convert the former Sherburne School into affordable housing. There is no timeline for completion of the project right now, according to a story from WMUR. Although this will be helpful for people who can't afford the sky rocketing prices of rent in Portsmouth, it will still be financially difficult for some to make ends meet.
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Stay with me here for a minute.
Your rent could be covered in New Hampshire, if you're lucky
If you meet the parameters for assistance, you might be able to get help with paying your rent. It's an extremely long wait list. I'm talkin' years and years.
According to nhhfa.org, the State of New Hampshire will pay a little over $2,000 for a two bedroom apartment in Portsmouth. I'm assuming that doesn't include any utilities.
The least expensive apartment in Portsmouth, according to apartments.com, is $1,510, at Patriots Park, just off Route 1, not far from Water Country. As far as I can tell from their website, there are no 2 bedroom apartment available. As a matter of fact, there are no 1 bedrooms and no studio apartments available. But for the purposes of this, we'll assume there is one available.
Minimum Wage in New Hampshire is Silly Low
Minimum wage in New Hampshire is currently at $7.25 per hour. (C'mon, man....) If you work every hour of every week you will earn $1,266. per month.
Okay, here's where the fun starts. Do some math with me. These numbers are extremely conservative.
- Rent: If you have the immense good fortune to be approved for the nhhfa to pay your rent, let's assume this is taken care of. Usually, however, the tenant has "some" responsibility, but we'll just say it's all taken care of.
- Food: $430 per month for a family of three
- Car payment: $250-ish
- Gas: $130
- Electricity: $100
- Heat: $100
- Phone: $150
- TV: $50.
That's not counting everything, but that totals $1,210 per month. Remember, take home pay is $1,266. $56 left for insurance of any kind, (car/health) medical bills, medication, or anything else that you might need, like clothes, but you better shop outside of Portsmouth.
I'm not not saying it can't be done, I am just saying that even with subsidies, making ends meet can be challenging in a town that some locals hardly recognize anymore.
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