ROUNDUP: Nashua Leaders Blast Ayotte on Housing Crisis and Blackstone Ties

ROUNDUP: Nashua Leaders Blast Ayotte on Housing Crisis and Blackstone Ties
 

In Case You Missed It, Nashua leaders called on Kelly Ayotte to “disclose whether she still owns stock in Blackstone,” one of the nation’s largest landlords, where she raked in millions of dollars serving on the Board of Directors. While on the Board of Directors at Blackstone, Ayotte amassed 16,500 shares of stock valued at approximately $2.2 million. 

Ayotte has refused to disclose whether or not she ever divested those stocks, leaving Granite Staters to wonder whether she has a “personal financial interest in the companies profiting from the housing crisis.”

Across New Hampshire, average rent prices have skyrocketed to $2,100 a month, and the median price of a single-family home has hit its third record high under Ayotte’s failed leadership: $580,000. 

Read more:

Nashua Independent: Democrats Question Ayotte’s Blackstone Holdings Amid Housing Crunch

• New Hampshire Democratic Party officials and Nashua lawmakers on Friday called on Gov. Kelly Ayotte to disclose whether she still owns stock in Blackstone, the global investment firm where she previously served as a director.

• Deputy House Democratic Leader Laura Telerski, who represents Ward 8, called on Ayotte to disclose any remaining holdings and divest if she retains a stake in Blackstone.

• “You cannot ask Granite Staters to trust you on housing while refusing to provide transparency about your own financial ties to one of the biggest investment firms in the world,” Telerski said.

• Ayotte served on Blackstone’s board from 2019 through 2024. During that period, she received $150,000 annually in board compensation and shares valued at more than $2.2 million, according to public filings cited by the speakers[...]

• Samantha O’Loughlin, a recent Plymouth State University graduate and Nashua candidate for state representative, said young residents are increasingly being priced out of apartments and homeownership.

• “I open Zillow, and I see a house that costs more than half a million dollars,” O’Loughlin said. “Across New Hampshire, average rent prices have skyrocketed to $2,100 a month. Think about that for a second. For young people like myself, paying for sky-high grocery costs, rising utility bills and even student loans means we can’t afford another crushing bill.”

• The speakers also criticized Ayotte and Republican lawmakers’ housing policies, including changes involving the state’s Housing Champions program, arguing those actions have worsened the affordability crisis.

• The Nashua Independent contacted the governor’s office seeking clarification on whether Ayotte currently owns Blackstone shares, restricted stock units, deferred compensation, options or other Blackstone-linked assets. The Independent also asked, if she no longer holds those assets, when they were sold, surrendered, converted or transferred.

• Ayotte’s resignation from the board is confirmed, but the resignation alone does not establish whether she divested stock she already held or resolved the status of previously awarded equity. The governor’s office had not responded by publication time.
   

Nashua Telegraph: Nashua Dems blast Ayotte on housing crisis, Blackstone stock

• Since graduating from Plymouth State University five years ago, Samantha O’Loughlin has been trying to move out of her parents’ house.

• She said that throughout the Granite State, monthly rents have climbed to $2,100.

• “Instead of investing in affordable housing solutions, Kelly Ayotte cut millions in funding for affordable housing initiatives at the exact moment that Granite Staters were begging for relief,” said O’Loughlin. “Young Granite Staters need help, yet Kelly Ayotte’s response has been to pull the rug right from under them. While Kelly runs around touting the New Hampshire Advantage, families and young people are being priced out of their communities.”

• She said that according to the National Association of Home Builders, the average cost of a single-family home in New Hampshire is now $580,000, a figure that is simply out of reach for 83 percent of Granite Staters.

• Ward 8 Alderman Derek Thibeault raised an important question.

• “What happens when a city becomes more valuable to investors than it is affordable to the people who actually live here?” he asked. “Nashua is being squeezed from both sides. The demand to live here keeps growing, while the cost of actually living here keeps moving further out of reach.”

• Thibeault also agreed that Ayotte has a responsibility to tell Granite Staters if she still owns Blackstone stock.

• “If I were to guesstimate, if she never sold her stocks, they could be worth millions more,” he said, adding that Blackstone has a strong pull on Nashua’s housing market. “Gov. Ayotte owes the people of Nashua and the people of New Hampshire some answers. Does she still own Blackstone stock?”

• Deputy House Democratic Leader Laura Telerski (D-Nashua) said the new $580,000 price tag for a single-family home marks the third increase since Ayotte took office two years ago.

• Telerski is also worried that her children will not be able to afford a home in Nashua.

• “I really fear that may simply be out of reach for them and I can’t help but think about the families that may be forced to leave because they simply can’t afford to stay,” she said. “For Kelly Ayotte, New Hampshire’s housing crisis is just another problem she would rather ignore.”