Split Screen: As NH Rent Costs Continue to Rise, Kelly Ayotte “Collects Checks from US’s Largest Landlord”

Split Screen: As NH Rent Costs Continue to Rise, Kelly Ayotte “Collects Checks from US’s Largest Landlord”

New data from NH Business Review revealed that “​​the cost of renting continues to rise in New Hampshire, increasing pressure on overall housing availability and the finances of Granite State renters.”

 At the same time, a recent frontpage report from the Union Leader revealed that Republican candidate for governor Kelly Ayotte “serves on the board of and owns extensive stock in Blackstone, a private equity firm that critics say has a history of buying distressed properties, raising rents, evicting tenants and managing some apartment complexes with deplorable conditions.” The Union Leader report also revealed that Blackstone has holdings in New Hampshire, including “a large housing complex in South Nashua, apartments in Durham near the University of New Hampshire and a student housing project in Lebanon.”

According to the NH Business Review report, “rising housing costs increased financial strain on Granite Staters with low and moderate incomes,” “nearly half of renters in the Granite State were cost burdened by housing prices,” and the median price of a single-family house in New Hampshire has seen an “increase of 76.7 percent.” A recent University of New Hampshire poll found that housing is the biggest issue on Granite Staters’ minds, commanding a bigger share in that category than any other issue, at a sky-high 36 percent.

“While Granite State families are reeling from the state’s housing crisis, getting priced out of their homes, and struggling to pay their rent, Kelly Ayotte has made millions advising a company that has only made this problem worse,” said DGA States Press Secretary Emma O’Brien. “As long as Ayotte is profiting off a predatory corporate landlord that jacks up costs and forces tenants out of their homes, Granite Staters know they can’t afford her in the corner office, and that they cannot trust a word she says about New Hampshire’s housing crunch.”

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