Local welfare serves as the last resort safety net for New Hampshire residents facing crisis, helping with emergency shelter, food, and medicine when all other options are exhausted. This program is critical for older adults, who experience poverty and homelessness at higher rates than other age groups.1,2 Many live on fixed incomes that don't stretch to cover rising costs for housing, health care, and other basic needs. When an older Granite Stater on a fixed income faces an unexpected crisis, like a sudden rent increase, a medical emergency, or the loss of a spouse, local welfare can mean the difference between keeping a roof over their head and sleeping in their car.
HB 348 would significantly restrict access to local welfare at a time when more older adults and families need it most.
Contact the Governor: Veto HB 348
Email Governor Ayotte to urge her to veto HB 348.
WATCH: Challenges Granite Staters Face Aging in NH
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Have you, a loved one, or a client/patient been impacted by local emergency assistance?
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Need help? Contact Martha McLeod (Vice President of Community Engagement) for help taking action or Judith Jones (Healthy Aging Policy Director) with policy questions.
About the Bill
HB 348 has been amended to mitigate some harm by expanding the documents needed to prove residency and removing the local welfare monthly benefit cap.
HB 348 would create two major barriers to getting help through local welfare:
- Residency Requirement: It would require unhoused individuals to prove residency with documents like leases or utility bills—documents that someone sleeping in their car or temporarily staying with friends wouldn't have.
- Limit on Assistance: It would cap monthly assistance at just $652—an amount that doesn’t even cover one month’s rent and would only pay for about one week in an emergency motel. For a 75-year-old facing homelessness in winter, this could mean just one week of help before being left without shelter for the rest of the month.
Rather than restricting access to emergency assistance, we need systemic solutions that ensure our safety net works for all of us as we move through life. HB 348 would undermine this critical protection for people across our communities who have nowhere else to turn.
Bill Status
Next: The bill goes to the Governor's desk. Governor Ayotte has three choices: sign the bill into law, allow the bill to become law without a signature, or veto the bill.
April 9: The House of Representatives concurred with the Senate's amendment to the bill.
March 26: The Senate passed HB 348 as amended in a voice vote.
March 18: The Senate Election Law and Municipal Affairs Committee voted unanimously to advance HB 348 with an amendment that mitigates some harm by expanding the documents needed to prove residency and removing the local welfare monthly benefit cap.
March 3, 2026: The Senate Election Law and Municipal Affairs Committee held a public hearing to receive input the bill.
January 8, 2026: The House of Representatives passed HB 348 in a 190-157 vote, advancing it to the Senate, where it was assigned to the Senate Election Law and Municipal Affairs Committee.
2025: HB 348 was retained during the 2025 legislative session to be worked on further in the 2026 session.
To learn more about how a bill becomes a law, visit our About the Legislature webpage sign up for a New Futures advocacy training.
References
- NH Coalition to End Homelessness (2025). The State of Homelessness in New Hampshire: 2025 Edition. https://www.nhceh.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/2025-Edition-9.pdf
- New Hampshire Fiscal Policy Institute. (2025, March 3). Who is Experiencing Poverty in the Granite State? https://nhfpi.org/resource/who-is-experiencing-poverty-in-the-granite-state
