Home >
-A +A

Blog posts by: Craig Welch

Upward mobility, one roof at a time
By Craig Welch There is very clear evidence that the surest path to financial security in America today is to obtain a college degree. With that evidence comes a dispiriting fact: Only 25% of Americans have one. People who have earned a Bachelor’s degree earn 70% more than those without, a gap that is widening in this new global economy. High school graduates are twice as likely to be unemployed as are workers with Bachelor’s degrees. These are troublesome facts for a nonprofit like ours, whose...
3 weeks 5 days ago | more
Park Place homeowners may soon lose their houses and their assets -- why?
By Craig Welch Sixteen homeowners in Hooksett, N.H. may be forced out of their homes soon, and under New Hampshire law, the owner of the property has every right to do it. The owner of Park Place mobile home park is seeking approvals to build an apartment complex on the site, and in doing so will need all of the homes and homeowners to leave. Because the homeowners lease the land beneath their houses, they have no property rights, only a state law that says the landlord must give them 18...
22 weeks 2 days ago | more
Why New Hampshire has it right on manufactured housing
By Craig Welch With all of the noise these days about what's wrong with government, can we spend just a couple moments celebrating something New Hampshire lawmakers and advocates have done right? Manufactured housing is an affordable option for working families, young couples, and “downsized” retirees, especially in rural communities where apartments and other rental housing are scarce. Through the smart work of advocates and lawmakers here, New Hampshire has done some small things that have...
50 weeks 1 day ago | more
Will first-time homebuyers find you online?
By Craig Welch Trying to sell homes in your manufactured-housing community? Focusing on first-time homebuyers might be a good idea. Last year, first-time homebuyers accounted for half of home sales nationwide, and the fastest-growing segment of these buyers were single women with children. This is good news for manufactured-housing communities, because where better to live than in a safe and tight-knit community? Selling to first-time homebuyers can often be easier because they don’t have to...
1 year 12 weeks ago | more
will.i.am and our p.i.n
By Craig Welch When I met will.i.am of The Black Eyed Peas at an event in Manchester recently, he spotted my Community Loan Fund pin. "What is that? That's beautiful!" As we do, I took the pin off and made a gift of it, while explaining what the Community Loan Fund is and does. Have to say, it looked pretty good on his jacket! The Black Eyed Peas will perform at halftime of this year's Super Bowl. will.i.am probably won't have our pin on, but a guy can dream ... Craig Welch is the Community...
1 year 12 weeks ago | more
Resident-owned communites: Value in housing's 'lost decade'
By Craig Welch At the New Hampshire Housing Finance Authority's recent annual meeting (great show NHHFA!) we heard from Nick Retsinas, who teaches finance and real estate in emerging markets at Harvard Business School and is Director Emeritus of Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies. I came away from Retsinas’s remarks thinking, “No wonder this work is so hard.” While most of what our ROC-NH™ team does is training and development of our co-op leaders, this is real estate after all, and...
1 year 14 weeks ago | more
Leadership program opens door to continuing education
By Craig Welch This week, President Obama announced a new initiative to help 5 million Americans earn degrees and certificates through the nation’s community college system. It's part of a long-term strategy to allow more Americans access to career opportunities that are only available to those with academic credentials beyond a high school diploma. This strategy recognizes that our economy has permanently changed in ways that make access to job opportunities extremely limited without a degree...
42 weeks 6 days ago | more
Mission: Neighborhood transformation
By Craig Welch Congratulations to NeighborWorks Greater Manchester and Executive  Director Robert Tourigny for the start of a terrific project on Granite Street in Manchester, NH. This project is another example of why New Hampshire's nonprofit housing developers are such a valuable asset to our state. Only a mission-driven organization would even consider tackling the challenge of transforming an entire neighborhood. While a project like this is simply not attractive to conventional...
1 year 41 weeks ago | more
Summer is the right time to weatherize
By Craig Welch When it’s 90 degrees in the shade, the last thing you probably want to think about is how cold it’s going to be in the dead of winter – and how you need to stop putting off those repairs to make your home more comfortable and affordable. Weatherizing your home is not only good for your pocketbook: Cutting energy consumption is also good for the environment. One of the best weatherization resources we have found for homeowners is the Montana Weatherization Training Center, which...
1 year 41 weeks ago | more
New Maryland law protects homeowners displaced by park closure
By Craig Welch Should the owner of a manufactured housing park have to help residents with the expense of moving their homes if he sells the park for commercial development? Maryland has adopted a law requiring just that, as explained in a recent Washington Post story. “Under the law, which was passed earlier this year, a mobile-home park owner who wants to sell and change land use must give written notification to the residents and provide displaced homeowners with a relocation plan and...
1 year 41 weeks ago | more