New Report: Kelly Ayotte’s “Conflict of Interest” with Blackstone As “Record High Home and Rental Prices Top NH Voters Concerns”

New Report: Kelly Ayotte’s “Conflict of Interest” with Blackstone As “Record High Home and Rental Prices Top NH Voters Concerns” 

A new report from Public News Service finds that “record-high home prices are a top concern for New Hampshire voters and could impact the outcome of this year’s gubernatorial race.” That’s a problem for Kelly Ayotte, who “could have a conflict of interest” given her work as “a board member and shareholder with Blackstone,” the nation’s largest corporate landlord, which has a controversial record of buying  up properties and pricing renters out of their homes.

Public News Service cites recent polling from UNH that shows over a third of Granite Staters ranked housing as the “most important problem facing New Hampshire,” more than any other single issue.

This also comes after a new report from the New Hampshire Business Review, which found that “nearly half of renters in the Granite State were cost burdened by housing prices,” and that the median price of a single-family house in New Hampshire has seen an “increase of 76.7 percent.”  A front-page report from the Union Leader last month exposed Ayotte’s role as a board member for Blackstone, where she has made over half a million dollars and “owns more than 16,500 shares of stock valued at $2.2 million.” Housing experts have accused Blackstone of “exploiting tenants and ‘wreaking havoc’ in communities.”

New Hampshire State Senator Rebecca Perkins Kwoka told Public News Service that “many [Granite State families] with school-age children are being uprooted across the state due to the lack of affordable housing and the next governor will need to tackle the crisis head-on.”

“Granite Staters are looking for real solutions to the ever-growing housing crisis, but they can’t trust Kelly Ayotte to do that while she’s still serving on the board of Blackstone, a company that has only made the housing crisis worse,” said DGA States Press Secretary Emma O’Brien. “While Granite Staters are being priced out of homes and can’t afford to pay their rent, Kelly Ayotte has been cashing in with Blackstone as they’ve jacked up costs — once again putting her own interests ahead of the needs of New Hampshire families.”

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