Jennifer Harris

As a disabled parent, my income is so low that I qualify for every possible state benefits programs, as well as Medicare, HUD housing choice voucher program (formerly known as section 8), and federal energy and heat assistance. Even with a HUD HCV, it can be so difficult to find a landlord who will accept a HUD client, that some people lose their voucher because they are unable to find a rental within the required eight weeks. I was fortunate to have a friend who is a landlord, and had an apartment available. I have had stable housing now for 7 1/2 years. But it was not always this way. As a child in the 1970s, my mother and I moved in to a single wide trailer and lived in a mobile home park. It was one of the most stable points in my childhood. As an adult with children, prior to receiving our HCV, myself and my two school-age children, were living in extreme poverty, even with child support. My Housing cost was 73% of my income. Fortunately, this apartment rent included power and heat, as well as trash and water utilities. But trying to survive on $1400 a month, even in 2017, was tenuous, and demoralizing. Just before we were offered public housing or an HCV benefit, there was a mobile home park that had a manufactured home for sale. However, the limitations on living there were such that it was inaccessible to my family. I know for a fact that I am not unique in our socioeconomic cohort. In addition to extremely low income, the explosion in rental rates mean that the apartment I was renting in Laconia for $875 a month is now approximately double the cost. However, my SSDI has gone from the $800 range, to now in 2026, $991 per month. An increase of only 24%, meaning that I would be approximately $600 short, even to make the basic rent. Mobile home lots often are under $600 in monthly rent. Mobile homes themselves, can be purchased for under $20,000 and potentially bundled with rent if the mobile home park owns the home. Even with paying utilities, it's still going to be less than what I was paying for a small two bedroom apartment in 2018. With so many people currently unhoused, due to rent increases in the last five years, making mobile homes easier to access will get families into housing quicker, and less expensively, than with other types of housing. Whether or not you believe Housing is a human right, shelter is a human need. Housing insecurity is such an unbelievable stressor that it literally takes years off of people's lives. The more people in our state, whose basic needs are being met, the better for every part of New Hampshire. Please support this bill, so that we can get families out of shelters and off the streets, and into their own homes. Thank you, Jennifer Harris Manchester, NH