Event: Housing Regulation in the Greater Seacoast: Causes & Consequences, Feb. 8, 2022
Join us on Tuesday, Feb. 8, at 6 p.m., for a lively, candid discussion about the Seacoast region’s housing market and the opportunities for regulatory solutions to our housing supply and affordability crisis, organized by the Center for Ethics in Society at Saint Anselm College and the Josiah Bartlett Center for Public Policy.
Jason Sorens, Director of the Center for Ethics, will summarize the findings of his statewide residential land use regulation study before drilling down on specific Seacoast communities to show how housing costs have changed, and what the consequences have been for workers and families in the region. What can the region’s municipalities do to free up home-building from regulatory red tape?
Following Sorens’ presentation, Andrew Cline (President of the Bartlett Center) will moderate a panel discussion with local experts. Panelists include Portsmouth Mayor Deaglan McEachern, Sarah Wrightsman (Coordinator of Community Engagement at New Hampshire Housing and former Executive Director of the Workforce Housing Coalition of the Greater Seacoast), and Darren Winham (Town of Exeter’s Economic Development Director).
Details:
Sheraton Portsmouth Harborside Hotel
250 Market St.
6 p.m.
Tuesday, Feb. 8, 2022
This event is supported by New Hampshire Housing, New Hampshire Association of Realtors, and the Josiah Bartlett Center for Public Policy.
Register here to attend in person (Sheraton Portsmouth Harborside Hotel)
Register here to attend virtually
Panelists:
Jason Sorens is Director of the Center for Ethics in Business and Governance at Saint Anselm College. He received his Ph.D. in political science from Yale University in 2003 and a B.A. in economics and philosophy (with honors) from Washington and Lee University in 1998. He has researched and written more than 20 peer-reviewed journal articles, a book for McGill-Queens University Press titled Secessionism, and a biennially revised book for the Cato Institute, Freedom in the 50 States (with William Ruger). His research has focused on fiscal federalism, U.S. state politics, and movements for regional autonomy and independence around the world. He has taught at Yale, Dartmouth, and the University at Buffalo and twice won awards for best teaching in his department. He lives in Amherst, New Hampshire.
Andrew Cline is President of the Josiah Bartlett Center for Public Policy. Before joining the Bartlett Center, he was a communications consultant and a newspaper editor. He spent 14 years as editor of the editorial page of the New Hampshire Union Leader, where his work won him two New Hampshire Press Association Editorial Writer of the Year awards. A USA Today contributor, he has been published in more than 100 newspapers and magazines, including The Atlantic, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, National Review, and The Weekly Standard. He was appointed chair of the State Board of Education in 2017.
Deaglan McEachern was elected Mayor of Portsmouth, NH in November 2021. He was elected to the City Council in 2019 and was the co-creator in 2020 of the Citizen Response Task Force to help local businesses cope with the economic impact of the pandemic. Previously he had co-founded Seacoast Business Owners with his wife Lori to help small businesses in the area thrive. He serves on the Advisory Board of SOS Recovery, a community recovery program that is on the front lines of substance misuse treatment. McEachern works in the technology sector, managing New England for Yext Inc, a publicly traded software company. Before working in the technology sector, McEachern spent 10 years on the United States rowing team.
Sarah Wrightsman is the Community Engagement Coordinator at New Hampshire Housing. Prior to joining the team at New Hampshire Housing, Wrightsman was Executive Director of the Workforce Housing Coalition of the Greater Seacoast and the Housing Coordinator for the Regional Economic Development Center, which serves southern NH. Wrightsman is a graduate of Leadership Seacoast’s class of 2019 and Leadership New Hampshire’s Class of 2021. She holds a master’s degree in public policy from the Carsey School of Public Policy at the University of New Hampshire. Wrightsman was selected for the Union Leader’s 40 Under Forty list in 2020, and featured in New Hampshire Magazine’s 2019 “It List,” named a “10 to Watch” winner by Seacoast Media Group and Catapult Seacoast, and named “Civic Leader of the Year” by Stay Work Play and NH Public Radio in 2018. A resident of Newmarket, Wrightsman is the co-host and co-founder of the New Hampshire-based podcast, Creative Guts.
Darren Winham is the Economic Development Director for the Town of Exeter, NH. Winham has worked in economic development around the country for 21 years, previously serving as the Business Development Specialist for the Maine Department of Economic and Community Development, Chief of Economic Development and Housing for Lassen County, CA, Energy and Construction Lead for the Employment and Training Administration at US DOL in Washington DC, and Economic Development Director in Barre, VT. Winham is also the owner of DarWin Dynamic Solutions, EconDev Consulting, and a Partner at Argos Data and Development.
