Ben Frost: Why Is Housing Hard? Reflections on 25 Years in Housing Advocacy

Abstract

Why is it so hard to build housing, especially affordable housing? While it may take only a few months of activity to build a home, firmly establishing the conditions that will enable us to meet our challenge of housing affordability will take years.

Working together with sometimes unlikely allies, Ben Frost has spent the past quarter-century incrementally setting the foundation for change. By helping to change narratives, he has guided New Hampshire to establish a series of progressive housing policies, some of which compel action, while others foster innovation. Those changes, though incremental, have always been in the service of a long plan. More work remains to be done.

In this presentation, Frost will discuss a series of barriers to housing production that even now, after many years of work, are only beginning to be addressed. These include a deep-rooted cultural aversion to change, the struggle between local control and top-down requirements, and decades of regulatory accretion. He will describe the elements of advocacy that have worked for him and how political conditions have changed over time, necessitating agility and flexibility. He will explore the relationship between data and storytelling, but also the paramount importance of empathetically listening to others.

Biography

Ben Frost

Ben Frost is the President of Proactive Development at Rhode Island Housing, where he is developing solutions to increase the Ocean State’s production of housing. He has worked for decades as a planner and public-sector attorney. Previously, Frost was the Deputy Executive Director and Chief Legal Officer at New Hampshire Housing. He is the architect of New Hampshire’s most progressive housing policies and is a founder of Housing Action NH, a low-income housing advocacy organization; he was one of the key leaders of the NH Zoning Atlas. Frost has been recognized by multiple organizations for his work in affordable housing policy. He is a member of the College of Fellows of the American Institute of Certified Planners. He received a B.A. and M.A. in Geography from Colgate University and Syracuse University, respectively, and a J.D. from Cornell Law School. He is admitted to the practice of law in New Hampshire state and federal courts.