'This is everything to us': Cottage homes in Dover a solution for young family

DOVER — Kylani Bryant, 2, is living in her first home at the Cottages at Back River Road .

Kiana Johnston, her husband, Melvin Bryant, and their daughter Kylani found a lifeline at the affordable housing development that opened last year.

"This is everything to us," Johnston said. "We have been homeless for so long, and this is our first time living in a house. This is a community here, and we know our neighbors. I cannot even begin to explain what that means to us."

John and Maggie Randolph developed the 44 small homes at 54 Back River Road in Dover. All are rentals and are filling up quickly with 28 occupied and some of the homes not yet ready for occupancy. Teachers, firefighters, municipal employees and employees of the Harmony Homes Assisted Living Center also owned by the Randolphs live there.

The small homes of 544 square feet are touted as energy efficient. They have added housing stock at a time when the housing crisis means an estimated 20,000-plus homes are needed in New Hampshire to meet current need and 90,000 homes by 2040, according to New Hampshire Housing.

Johnston and her family came to live in their home with help from the nonprofit Seacoast Family Promise and Executive Director Pati Frew-Waters. The family pays $1,150 per month for their small but cozy home.

"We went to Pati in June of last year and she took us right in," said Johnston. "My husband is working at Harmony Homes, and we got to move in here in November. This is security — for her (Kylani) and for us. It's such a relief."

"The Randolphs are making this work, and they are working with us to help some of our families by allocating some of these units to us," Frew-Waters said.

Solutions for affordable housing

Frew-Waters credited Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-New Hampshire, who visited the cottage homes in Dover on Friday, with helping secure $1 million for Seacoast Family Promise to work toward low-income housing.

"But when you start by building new, or even rehabilitating places, that money doesn't go as far as you'd think," Frew-Waters said. "So, thanks God for people like the Randolphs. This is what a solution to affordable housing looks like. We have to care about each other, and this is what it looks like."

"It is so exciting what you have done here, and it is a model for the rest of our state," said Shaheen. "I can't thank you, and the city of Dover enough for working with you to make this happen. This is important because it helps protect the dignity of people by supporting affordable housing."

Shaheen toured the home of Ieshia Guillory, who lives there with her young son.

"I was living with friends for the past few years," Guillory said. "I love it here so much and I plan to stay a long time."

Guillory's home is bright and airy, with a modern kitchen, a living area, washer and dryer and a loft where she and her son sleep.

Dover cottages hailed as model for affordable housing

State Sen. David Watters, D-Dover, said a multifaceted approach to the housing problem is required.

"The Harmony Homes project was an amazing business model," said Watters, noting the company's Durham location also has housing for workers. "Now they are going further. Kudos to them doing it, and to the city of Dover for supporting them."

"John and Maggie Randolph are committed to projects like this one. They don't have to be," said Mayor Bob Carrier.

"They want to do this and as a city we want to support that," said Carrier. "This seems like a new concept but it's not reinventing the wheel. When the mills were operating, they had housing for their workers. There were 150-200 rooms to rent, and they were affordable. It helped them. It helped the mills. This idea is a win for everyone, and we are a model for other communities."

Carrier said he believes providing housing for the workforce helps to stabilize a community.

John Randolph said they got started on this track when they wanted to help provide housing for the employees of Harmony Homes. They created housing for their workers in Durham who were having trouble finding places they could afford.

"We did that and then this idea came to us," he said. "We only charge our employees 33% of their income for rent."

"We are working with Durham, to build entry level homes," said Randolph. "We are working closely with another municipality but it is too early in the process to say who they are or what the project will be."

"Affordable housing gives both short-term and long-term benefits to people, to a community," said Maggie Randolph. "We are building a community here, but it also helps bring in the workforce that cities need by making it easier for them to live here."

Ryan Crosby, executive director of the Dover Housing Authority, said it's important "to keep replicating this model, or projects like it. The secret is to build more housing inventory, in creative ways like this one."

Crosby said the beauty of the cottage community is in the diversity of its population and in the dignity it offers families.

"We have firefighters, teachers living here," he said "We also have people who were living in their cars. They are together and helping to support each other. We need to all be in this together. If this works in Dover; it can work somewhere else. This model is the future of housing, a way to meet the need."

Shaheen explains how federal government can help

Shaheen said lawmakers in Washington are looking at ways to incentivize projects such as the one the Randolphs have created.

"We are continuing the HUD subsidies for housing," she said. "We were seeing that the subsidies for HUD-backed mortgages were going away when houses were sold. Now they will stay with the owner. We also passed two USDA measures that will increase the life of most loans, making them more affordable."

Shaheen said the measure she is most proud of in the area of affordable housing is allowing the use of tax credits to help put people in homes.

"We authorized the use of $100 million in American Rescue Plan funds for this purpose," she said. "Projects like this one are part of the answer and our providing support for low-income tax credits is another."

This article originally appeared on Fosters Daily Democrat: 'This is everything to us': Cottage homes in Dover a solution for young family