Property owners across New Hampshire are feeling less merry and bright this month as they begin receiving their property tax bills. The practice of sending out tax bills as year-end approaches always strikes a seasonally discordant tone. In Keene, this December's bills reflecting a nearly 4 percent increase in the city's tax rate -- among the highest in the state -- will be a shock for city taxpayers already facing so many increased costs from post-pandemic inflation.

As unwelcome as the tax rate increase is, that a significant component of the city's share of the increase is attributable to housing-related assistance comes as no surprise. In February, City Manager Elizabeth Dragon reported to the City Council that shelter-related assistance costs for the then-fiscal year which ended June 30 were spiraling toward $1.2 million, or four times what was budgeted that year for rental assistance and related services.

With no sign of the need diminishing, the city was forced to anticipate the trend would continue when it set the current fiscal year's budget, and Dragon has confirmed the rise in rental assistance -- along with increased personnel costs -- is a primary driver of the hike in the city's portion of the tax rate.

The skyrocketing shelter and other housing-assistance costs result from the one-two punch of the end of federal rental assistance during the pandemic and the ongoing shortage of affordable housing. That's raised housing costs beyond the capacity of many and dramatically driven up homelessness and the need for help from the city.

That need is not going away any time soon. Encouragingly, there is increased urgency statewide and locally for addressing the housing crunch. But, with the focus on lowering zoning and other regulatory barriers to development, no near-term easing of the housing insecurity crisis can be expected.

One solution some might suggest -- to curtail assistance to those facing housing insecurity -- is simply not available to the city. In New Hampshire, municipalities are by law required to assist those in the community who are unable to support themselves, regardless of their residence. And that disproportionately burdens cities and larger towns, where shelter and other services for the unhoused are most often located.

Nor is it helpful to view the increasing costs as a symptom of personal failings of those needing assistance. Beth Daniels, chief executive of Southwestern Community Services, notes that her agency is providing emergency assistance to people who have jobs but don't earn enough to afford housing in the current market. And N.H. Housing head Robert Dapice points to studies showing that higher levels of homelessness correlate not to increased incidence of drug addiction or mental illness, but instead to the higher cost of housing.

The pace at which the city's costs for housing-related services is accelerating will surely continue. Through Nov. 30, the expense this fiscal year had already reached nearly $310,000, and the cold season that will further drive up the need is only recently underway.

With the hands of Keene and other municipalities tied by the state's unfunded mandate, it's time for the state to step in and shoulder more of the cost that's unfairly burdening taxpayers in New Hampshire's cities and larger towns.

There is, however, little reason for optimism that help will be coming from Concord. There, the prevailing philosophy is to downshift the cost of state responsibilities to cities and towns. That may enable governors and legislators to crow about balanced budgets and the New Hampshire advantage, but they do so on the backs of local taxpayers while shamefully shirking their responsibility for the welfare of state residents facing homelessness and housing insecurity.