CONCORD — State Sen. Tara Reardon, D-Concord, said she is focused on easing regulatory barriers to housing construction and pushing to restore funding for a state program that helps pay for infrastructure tied to new development.
Election standing and background
Reardon, a real estate attorney who has represented Concord, Bow and Hopkinton in the New Hampshire Senate since 2024, had no opposition in the Democratic primary and is effectively unopposed in the general election after her Republican opponent declined to mount a campaign, the Concord Monitor reported Oct. 25.
Legislative record and priorities
Reardon said a bipartisan group of lawmakers passed “a raft of new laws” over the last two years aimed at reducing regulatory barriers to housing construction in the state. She emphasized that building new houses takes time but said lawmakers can continue to remove obstacles.
Policy changes Reardon supports include targeted reductions in minimum lot sizes and identifying state-owned land that could be made available for housing. She framed the minimum-lot-size changes as limited and targeted rather than broad alteration of historic downtowns.
“We need to keep working to show that we don’t need to change a historic downtown of a town. We just need to make someplace in each town where smaller lots are available.”
Housing Champions funding
Reardon said she is among lawmakers pushing to fund the Housing Champions program again. The program had set aside state money to help pay for infrastructure expansions in select towns, and Reardon described renewing that funding as a priority for supporting housing development in eligible areas, including Concord.
- Reardon emphasized targeted regulatory changes, such as smaller minimum lot sizes in selected locations.
- She supports finding state-owned parcels that could be used for housing development.
- She is advocating restoring state funding for the Housing Champions program to underwrite infrastructure needed for new housing.
Reardon won a contested primary two years ago, the Monitor noted, but did not face a primary challenge this year. Her Republican opponent, Dennis Blankenbeker, told the Monitor he had put his name on the ballot at a friend’s request and was not running an active campaign.
The comments and priorities were presented in an interview published by the Concord Monitor on Oct. 25. Reardon’s focus on zoning changes and infrastructure funding aligns with recent bipartisan legislative efforts in New Hampshire to address housing supply.
