KEENE, N.H. (MyKeeneNow) Keene Housing has released its 2030 strategic plan, outlining how the organization intends to expand affordable housing, strengthen resident services and manage rising costs amid an ongoing regional housing shortage.

The plan was developed collaboratively with Keene Housing’s board of commissioners, staff, residents, voucher holders, landlords and community partners, according to the organization’s website. It lays out 10 overarching goals, each supported by more detailed objectives shaped by stakeholder input and research.

Executive Director Joshua Meehan said the process began with extensive outreach, ranging from surveys to direct conversations with stakeholders at every level of government.

He said creation of the strategic plan starts with conversations — whether through surveys or face-to-face discussions — involving stakeholders from Washington, D.C., to the New Hampshire Statehouse and City Hall.

Board and staff members review the plan annually and make adjustments as needed. Keene Housing remains flexible about how individual objectives evolve over time, Meehan said.

“We’re really open minded about what we land on,” Meehan said. “[We’ve] more or less had the same high-level goals because they’re sort of evergreen … some of the projects (and objectives) change over time, but the overall goals tend to be evergreen.”

Keene Housing’s long-standing mission is to provide safe, stable and affordable housing while supporting residents through services that help families, seniors and people with disabilities remain housed and independent. The organization currently serves hundreds of households across Keene and the Monadnock Region through public housing, Housing Choice Vouchers and owned rental properties.

The strategic plan arrives as Keene and the surrounding region continue to face a severe shortage of affordable housing. Vacancy rates remain historically low, rents have risen sharply in recent years, and local housing studies have identified the need for hundreds of additional units in the city alone over the next decade to meet demand. Housing pressures extend across the Monadnock Region, where limited supply, aging housing stock and rising construction costs have made affordability a growing concern for residents and policymakers alike.

One of Keene Housing’s major strategic goals focuses on energy conservation and sustainability, including a long-term objective of achieving carbon neutrality by 2035. The organization plans to pursue federal and state energy-efficiency rebates and replace older Energy Thermal Storage systems with high-efficiency HVAC units or similar technologies.

“We committed to becoming carbon neutral in 2035 back in 2014, and we’ve been pretty aggressively pursuing that goal,” Meehan said. “We didn’t establish this goal because it’s good for the environment, although it is. We established this goal because our second largest operating cost is fuel and electricity.”

Several large-scale development projects are already underway or planned as part of the strategy. Keene Housing is in the process of transforming the former Roosevelt School into affordable housing. Roosevelt East, which will include 30 apartments, is expected to be completed by the end of summer 2026, with Roosevelt West adding another 30 units. The organization is also planning the 30-unit Fortune Commons development in Jaffrey.

While Keene’s recent property tax rate increase does not affect Keene Housing in the same way it does residential taxpayers, the organization still pays real estate taxes under a separate calculation set by state law, Meehan said. Additional properties are taxed through payments in lieu of taxes.

“We still pay plenty in real estate taxes, but it’s attached to a different metric than the residential rate,” he said.

The strategic plan also reflects Keene Housing’s participation in the federal Moving to Work program, which was created by Congress in 1996 and administered by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Keene Housing joined the program in 2000, giving the agency flexibility to pursue development, resident services and innovative programs beyond what is typically allowed for public housing authorities.

Meehan said the designation allows Keene Housing to “pursue a whole host of real estate development, to resident services and all sorts of programs that the typical [public housing authority] can only dream of.”

In exchange for that flexibility, Keene Housing must regularly demonstrate to Congress that federal funds are being used effectively to improve outcomes for residents and the broader community.

The 2030 Strategic Plan is Keene Housing’s third such document and is designed to evolve over time.

The plan is “designed to be a living document—reviewed, updated, and adapted annually to respond to changing circumstances and emerging opportunities,” according to the document.

“I hope that folks in the Monadnock Region get a chance to take a look at our strategic plan and to think about the role we play … not just for providing affordable housing to those who need it, but also in the areas of resident services that we provide both to working families and to the elderly disabled people we serve and support,” Meehan said.