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Imagine TEENA

A gap in purchasing power
In Nashua, homebuyers are
made up of upper income
homebuyers which account
for 49% of all households,
moderate income which
account for 17%, and lower
income which account for
24%. Households in the top
34% can purchase homes
starting at $331,000. Due to
a lack of supply, households
in the bottom 50% are left
competing for homes with
residents whose purchasing
power is $100,000 greater.

Nashua’s housing stock is
predominantly single-family.
Single family housing comprises
86% of the residential land area

in Nashua. These units comprise
52% of all housing units in the city.
Buildings with less than 10 units
account for 93% of residential land
area and 74% of all housing units.

Home values in Nashua are
rising, rapidly. The demand for
owner-occupied housing units

in Nashua has driven prices up
significantly over the last ten
years. From 2010 to 2019, home
values have appreciated 19%. The
median sales price for a newly
constructed home in Nashua

is $407,439 while the median
sales price of an existing home is
$321,198.

https://imagine.nashuanh.gov

“We know that housing

in Nashua is becoming
increasingly unaffordable for
more and more residents and
that not only is that impacting
the beautiful diversity of the
city but it’s leading to a rise
and associated social costs of
homelessness.”

“T believe that this is a once and
a lifetime opportunity to develop
housing that is affordable.”

- Public Meeting

Rent and Purchasing Capacity of Nashua Households

Household
Income

$100,000+

Upper

$50,000-$74,999

Moderate

$0-$19,000

Lower

Source: ACS 2018, Housing Study

116

$75,000-$99,999

$35,000-$49,999

$20,000-$34,999

Maximum Affordable

Households Rent Range
34% 12,259 eno’,

ash 5,431 see - $2,500
16% 5,816 $1,250 - 1,875
ahs 4,017 ss - $1,250
$500 - $875
12% 4,411 —s
$0 - $500
12% 4,430 yak

Home Purchasing

Power

$331,000+

$249,000-$331,000

$166,000-$249,000

$116,000-$166,000

$66,000-$116,000

$0-$66,000

Rents are also increasing in
Nashua. Over the last five years,
median gross rent rose 19% to

a high of $1,287 per month. The
number of rental units priced
between $1,500 - $1,999 range
grew 24% in five years, the fastest
of any rent range. Rent growth has
been driven by demand for smaller
units, typically 1- bedroom units.

Downtown Nashua should

be a housing focus area. The
combination of high rental
percentages, lower incomes,
racial and ethnic diversity, lower
assessed values, and older
housing stock creates challenges
for stabilizing the housing in
Downtown and maintaining its
general affordability. A balanced
approach is required to both
introduce new market rate and
affordable housing, as well as
strategic investments to improve
the quality of existing housing in
the Downtown area.

Imagine TEENA

The City will need to
encourage and support more
development to provide

the housing that is clearly
needed to support our current
and future residents and
businesses.

Implementation Report Card
Baseline —> 2030 Target

Housing units (increase from
base) - Housing Study
34018 —>39018

Housing affordability: cost
burden - rental
41% —>38%

Housing affordability: cost

burden - owner
26% —>22%

118

Create a greater mix of housing
types that are accessible to
Nashua residents at all life stages,
household compositions, physical
abilities, and socioeconomic levels
as identified in the 2020 City
Housing Study

Promote
mixed-income and
multigenerational
neighborhoods
by enabling the
development and
distribution of a wider
range of housing types
throughout the city.

https://imagine.nashuanh.gov

Allow denser
multifamily and mixed-
use development through
rezoning in appropriate
redevelopment areas
identified through the
Imagine Nashua visioning
and planning process to
improve the supply-side
availability of residential
and commercial space.

Timeframe: Near-term

Advance key
recommendations
suggested in the 2020
Housing Study including:

Recommendation 1

Timeframe: Near/Medium-term

This includes two and three-
family dwellings, townhomes, and
community housing.

Timeframe: Near-term/Ongoing

Create an Affordable Housing
Trust Fund.

Place the oversight of the
Affordable Housing Trust

(AHT) within the Community
Development Division to

create synergy with the City’s
Consolidated Plan, Master Plan,
development permitting, and
connections with other housing
partners.

Comprehensive Master Plan

Housing

The City has already done a great deal of ground work via the 2020
housing study, and this master plan endorses its recommendations.

Recommendation 2

Timeframe: Near-term/Ongoing

Update inclusionary Housing
Regulations.

Consider revising the current
Inclusionary Zoning (IZ) policy to
apply city-wide to any residential
or mixed-use development that
exceeds a certain number of units
(e.g. any development containing
10 or more units).

Make Accessory
Dwelling Units (ADUs) Affordable housing in Nashua
fully by-right.
Recommendation 1 Recommendation 2
Timeframe: Mid-term Timeframe: Mid-term
Incoporate reduced permit fees, As noted in the study, conduct
eliminated off-street parking a city-wide campaign on the
requirements, reduced lot sizes benefits of ADUs, with example
for detached ADUs, simplified plans and an explanation of the
gross square footage limits for permitting process.

both detached and attached
ADUs, flexibility in entrance
locations, the allowance of
modified roof lines to create more
usable space, and allow ADUs to
be placed within the rear setback
(as noted in the 2020 housing
study).

119

Action: Evaluate
opportunities to renovate
older structures for
improved affordable
housing throughout the
city.

https://imagine.nashuanh.gov

Action: Create and
maintain an inventory of
publicly owned land and
assess its suitability for
new affordable housing.

Timeframe: Mid-term

Action: Encourage

and facilitate the
investment in resources
that help the elderly to
age in place, such as
public transportation
subsidies, real estate tax
abatements, programs for
retrofitting existing units,
etc.

Timeframe: Long-term

Timeframe: Long-term

Action: Ensure that all
new housing is built

to meet accessibility
and Universal

Design standards to
accommodate people of
all ages and abilities.

Timeframe: Mid-term

Nashua’s economy Is strong and growing, but still
subject to local and regional pressures. Any plan for
sustainable and inclusive economic development

in Nashua must take an integrated approach -
thoughtfully assessing and coordinating the city’s
land use policies, transportation infrastructure,

social capital and services. Nashua Is well
positioned to advance growth in both its established
and emerging sectors, but must prioritize equitable
access to jobs and opportunities In the city for all its
residents and workers.

Nashua Today:
Economic
Development

Nashua is home to a complex
landscape of business sectors from
health care to manufacturing to
construction. These diverse sectors
are represented as large circles

in the adjacent graphic. Within
each sector there are a variety of
subsectors and business sizes. For
example, within manufacturing
there is electronic manufacturing,

Nashua’s largest
business sectors

Restaurants

Computer Consulting

Systems Desig

4 qent Techn cay

s
ee

Semiconductors

Supplies Merchant Wholesalers

navigation instruments, computer
manufacturing, and equipment
manufacturing. Nashua’s diverse
business sector will continue to
grow with an additional 2,677
jobs projected for 2029. Nashua is
more dependent on manufacturing
as a source of employment

than the nation as a whole.
Manufacturing represents 15% of
Nashua’s job base but is only 10%
of the US job base. This translates
to a concentration level or location
quotient (LQ) of 1.52.

What is a location quotient?
Location quotients are

ratios that allow an area’s
distribution of employment

by industry, ownership, and
size class to be compared toa
reference area’s distribution -
for example, across the nation.
If an LQ is equal to 1, then the
industry has the same share of
its area employment as it does
in the nation. An LQ greater
than 1 indicates an industry
Vidas A ner-UkeTeeSJ rel MOv NAL
local area employment than is
the case nationwide.

ade Auto Dealers
v

Social Advocacy Orgs

.
s

Source: ReferenceUSA business listing data, analyzed by Utile

sf

Building Equipment Contractors

Real Estate Agents
Elementary and Secondary Schools

Grocery Stores

<— Hospitals

Physician’s Offices

123

Nashua

Sore T EM ac=d elo Lat
apA0 Rope tom Naess eleled an
group explored economic
development opportunities

in Nashua including the
redevelopment of the historic
Millyard, an economic

conditions analysis, and

a workforce development
analysis. The study suggests
the City encourages

inclusive technology-

and health care-related
entrepreneurship, create
linkages between unemployed
or underemployed residents to
job opportunities, and create a
mixed-use Millyard district that
more seamlessly integrates
into downtown.

https://imagine.nashuanh.gov

Nashua is more dependent on manufacturing as a source of
employment than the nation as a whole. Manufacturing represents 15%
of Nashua’s job base but is only 10% of the US job base.

By comparison retail and the
healthcare sectors which are also
major employment drivers, their
location quotients are 1.33 for
retail, and 1.19 for healthcare

and social services.Because this

is pre-pandemic data and 2020
data at the time of this writing

is not available for Nashua the
impact on retail trade and the
accommodations and food services
sector can’t be determined

from this data. Professional and
technical services which includes
research and development

as well as some computer

related services, while a major
employment driver for the city, is
below the national average with an
LO of .85

Concentration of
Economic Sectors

Location quotient helps us
understand the strength and
weaknesses of a community’s
economy. While location quotient
normally refers to the local
concentration of an industry
relative to its concentration across
the whole United States, the
planning team has also calculated
a New Hampshire-specific version.
In other words, a 1.0 on this

graph means that that sector
makes up the same proportion of
Nashua’s economy as it does New
Hampshire’s economy. Finance
and insurance, for example, makes
up twice the amount of Nashua’s
employment as it does New

Location Quotient compared to New Hampshire

Location Quotient Relative to NH

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eo" \eo" Wea Oe a? C9 aro ger

oo ro gon? Nene FO gc Pome
eA oye a2 eras oo
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Source: Longitudinal Employer-Household Dynamics Workplace Area Characteristics
Block-Level Analysis, US Census Bureau, 2018

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Hampshire’s overall employment.
The sectors on the left side of the
graph represent Nashua’s strength,
and are the sections of the
economy representing jobs of the
information economy. This does
suggest that Nashua should look to
better integrate with its neighbors
to the north and south, to better
grow these sectors in the coming
Decades.

Employment and
Wages

Total wages in Nashua for 2019
equaled over $2.95b. The city’s
average wage is $62,906. Four
industry sectors including
information, wholesale trade,
professional and technical
services, and manufacturing

have average annual wages over
$100,000. Manufacturing, which is
the only large employment sector
also carrying among the highest
wages in the city, is over $102,000,
up 14% from 2010. As noted
earlier, manufacturing represents
15% of the employment base but
because of the high wage levels it
represents 25% of the city’s total
wage base. Manufacturing wages in
Nashua are also 46% higher than
the national average wage. This

is an indicator of the high value
manufacturing that takes place

in Nashua. By comparison retail,
which is the largest employment
sector in the city, represents 21%
of the job base but only 12% of the
wage base.

What Can Different Jobs/Earnings Afford in Nashua?

Lowest paying jobs in nashua cannot afford rent or home
purchase at nashua’s median prices. With a median gross
rent of $1,287/month and a median home value of $278,400,
31% of employees in Nashua’s top ten largest employment
sectors can’t afford units at those prices. These industry
sectors are also projected to add employees through the year
2029.

2020
Earnings
Manufacturing Prof/Tech/Science
$425,000 Home __ ad $403,000 Home
See. Ole) i CS pLemereley $3,037 Rent
Government Health Care
$253,000 Home __ eho a $242,000 Home
$1,913 Rent $90,000 $1,829 Rent

Construction Bee f Education Services
$238,000 Home ee $201,000 Home

$1,792 Rent me

$1,522 Rent
Admin and Support ~~ Retail
Services | RVUREMOOLO ME nnn $138,000 Home
$198,000 Home $1,039 Rent

$1,491 Rent $30,000

Accommodation
and Food Service

Other Services
$119,000 Home
$900 Rent

$15,000

$628 Rent

Future Employment and Affordability

imishoeity7 2029 Jobs Captured Jobs Average
Sector Earning
Health Care and
Social Assistance hee 508 $73,141
Educational
Services ai 125 $60,866
Accommodation and
Food Service 213 65 $25,100
Other Services 179 54 $59,651
Admin and Support
Services 120 36 $35,978
Arts and
Entertainment 46 14 $24,732

Construction 15

$71,689

Source: EMSI 2020, HUD, RKG Associates