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Special Board of Aldermen 10-27-2020 Page 13

On the wrap around services, | think that is also a great question. So in addition to the in-home care, if
there are ways to think about and this might be maybe more appropriate for the Master Plan because that
will really think about all the kind of elements of what | will call “Community Development” so transportation,
open spaces, healthcare, public health, Government services, land use, it sort of brings all of those
together. | mean this would be a really opportune time to think about the location of housing that might be
more sought after by those older residents and then how proximate are those development areas or
redevelopment areas to the services that they might need from a support perspective.

Alderman Lopez

| appreciate that answer. | wish you had a little bit more of a plan for us but | guess we have to do the
actual planning part, because that’s been something of a struggle that I’ve seen downtown as Alderman for
this particular area is non-profits basically have to compete for for-profits in order to get space. And they
provide due to New Hampshire’s bizarre, | mean unique tax structure, they provide the majority of
supportive services, wrap around services. So we have seen a lot of change, growth and decline of
services over the years. So | just, | am curious as to whether we have enough volume or infrastructure to
meet current need, versus expansion need. When you had pointed out that Nashua maybe needing to add
like an additional 4,000 plus units over the next couple of years, | am imagining that would be accompanied
by a tremendous amount of those wrap around services.

Director Marchant

Can | jump in here too? | think that some of these new units, and just as Eric was just describing, it’s really
important to remember that we also have a lot of growth in our 18 to 34. And the location of housing the
same analysis Eric was just talking about for maybe some of our seniors, also aligns very significantly with
what is attractive to our 18 to 34. So what we have seen already is they are competing for the same
product, the same stock but that our older generations right, they have cash on hand, they’ve sold a house
and they are out competing. So | don’t want to get too lost in setting up housing only for our aging
population that doesn’t also accommodate our workforce, because that’s incredibly important.

And also, if we look at our aging population and we go past 2030 to 2040, there’s a very steep decline.

And if we age restrict too much we are going to be in big trouble the following decade. So | think it’s really
important to kind of keep in mind that we are looking at the same product.

Alderman Lopez

So keeping that in mind, have you found that there’s any kind of an increase or lack of capacity in wrap
around services for individuals that are in the 18 to 23 range?

Director Marchant
This isn’t an employment study; it’s a housing study. So | do think you are bringing up a really good point, |
think it’s a very important thing for us to be addressing as part of the Master Plan. And as we get into

Phase II we are really going to dive into employment and the economy and | think these are great points for
that, but they aren’t something that was covered in any detail with this housing study.

Alderman Lopez
OK were there specific amenities that we can ask questions on?
Director Marchant

Anything to do with housing.

Special Board of Aldermen 10-27-2020 Page 14

Alderman Lopez

We may have different expectations of what people will need to manage housing.

Tim Cummings, Director of Economic Development

If | may Alderman Lopez, could you kind of define wnat you mean by amenities? Just so | have a better
sense?

Alderman Lopez

| was thinking of core amenities for people in order to maintain their housing, for example, maintaining a
clean and safe environment. Having proximity to places that they can feed themselves or seek medical
care, those kinds of things. But again, it doesn’t look like it’s the focus here so | was wondering what
constitutes a need to put it downtown?

Mr. Halverson

| guess when we were looking at the downtown, you know, | think on the human perspective of lower
income households | think many of the things, Alderman Lopez, that you mentioned, are probably things
that those folks are looking for in addition to transportation potentially to jobs especially if they are located
in the City. And if they don’t have a personal vehicle that they have access to, for the 18 to 34 year old
population, | do agree with what Sarah said about the alignment of preferences for sort of more active
living, downtown environment, but is that 100% true. | think what those folks are looking for is probably a
bit different, they are probably looking for a nightlife, they are probably looking for in-building amenities
such as pet washing spa or doggy daycare or covered parking, in-home Wi-Fi and really good internet
service, cable packages, in-unit laundry, elevator buildings, those kinds of things. And when | was doing a
review of different apartment complexes in the City it seemed like the newer developments, River’s Edge
for example, that has so many of the new amenities that | think the younger folks are looking for. But | also
think that the older residents are also looking for very similar amenities as well. | don’t know if that helps
answer the question or not.

Alderman Lopez

| think | was just looking for more of an understanding of what areas are we going to see friction between
the two populations because their needs start to diverge.

Mr. Halvorsen

| see. | mean | think downtown is probably the answer from my perspective. | think that the growth potential
in the downtown, especially with potential to accommodate greater density in the core, has the potential to
— you know those units are likely to come with higher price points, whether it is a rent unit or a condo unit.
And what you might see is that the new investment can then start to trickle out into some of the
neighborhoods that have your older units that are your sort of naturally occurring affordable units, but not
necessarily deed restricted. And if those prices start to creep up, people start to invest in those units. On
the one hand that’s a good thing because they are investing in units; on the other hand, if they put that
money in, they are likely going to want to get that money out of it either through rent or sale. So | just think
that’s something just to consider as new investment takes place in downtown, sort of balancing new
investment, which on one hand is terrific, with trying to maintain some level of affordability in the downtown
as well as taking the affordable housing approach and also putting it out into other districts around the city
which | am sure will also be identified throughout the Master Plan, where some of that future growth is and
the ability to apply inclusionary housing or inclusionary zoning, some other places to spread out affordable
housing round the City.

Special Board of Aldermen 10-27-2020 Page 15

Alderman Lopez

Thank you for your comments. | did notice you also made reference to the racial and economic disparity as
well which | think is going to be important for us to consider.

Mr. Halvorsen
Yes.
President Wilshire

All set, Alderman Lopez?

Alderman Lopez
Yep.

President Wilshire
Alderman O’Brien?
Alderman O’Brien

Thank you, Madam President. This is a question to Mr. Halvorsen, thank you, excellent presentation. But
in your studies in going around to different other type of communities, | saw that you had listed some of our
older structures that were built around 1930, | think several pre-date that as well. And some of them have
maybe perhaps not been gently lived in or lovingly taken care of. So to that vein and looking at the Master
Plan in mind, does your company have a rule of thumb number in looking at some of these properties when
the point of investing into that and then looking to replace, some are coming up or some alternative
program to come up with more community type of stye on the same footprint and to get into affordable
housing.

Mr. Halvorsen

Yeah great question. So in the full report, | didn’t have time to talk about it tonight, but the City staff had
asked us to take a look at all of the residential units around the City. | think we focused mostly on one, two,
and three unit structures and looked at the age of each of the housing structures and try to figure out just
kind of rule of thumb what the potential rehabilitation needs might be citywide for older structures. And our
cut off for that was anything built prior to 1979. The reason we use that is that’s about a 40-year life span
and typically you are building structures for like 40 or 50 years here in the United States unlike many other
countries around the world. We build these structures and maintain them for 150 years in some cases
which in some respects is great to preserve the architecture and history. And in other respects its kind of a
rehabilitation nightmare when you buy it, you’ve got to put a bunch of money into it.

But anyway we use 1979 as a cut off for that both for the sort of lifespan of the structure, but maybe more
importantly that aligns with when lead paint regulations came out, sort of after 1979. So from a rehab
standpoint and | am sure Carrie can speak to this as well, the City has a really robust lead paint
remediation program. Many cities around the country that have CDBG Funds do so we use that as our cut
off for the rehab analysis.

Special Board of Aldermen 10-27-2020 Page 16
Director Marchant

So | think one of the critical pieces of this if you get into the report is the recommendations being able to
use some, maybe the affordable housing trust fund, or some other mechanism with our rental rehab
program to as we invest in rehab units, that we add that long term affordability clause to them to try and
help balance the rehabilitation with properties without necessarily losing affordability. So | think that there’s
some good tools that Eric suggested about how to balance some of those reinvestments in our community
while also not losing the affordable housing that exists.

President Wilshire

Any other Alderman have any questions? Seeing none, thank you Mr. Halvorsen, Director Marchant,
Director Cummings, for your presentation this evening. We do have our next meeting in about 3 minutes.
So thank you very much for being here and we appreciate your input on this great study.

Mr. Halvorsen

Thank you all so much.

Alderwoman Lu

Excuse me, Madam President?

President Wilshire

Yes?

Alderwoman Lu

Are we taking questions from the public tonight?

President Wilshire

No, this was a presentation to the Board tonight.

Alderwoman Lu

| see.

President Wilshire

The pubic is welcome to you know send along any questions they may have and I’m sure we will be happy
to get them answered.

Alderwoman Lu
| see, thank you.
President Wilshire

Thank you. Alderman O’Brien?

Special Board of Aldermen 10-27-2020 Page 17
ADJOURNMENT

MOTION BY ALDERMAN O’BRIEN THAT THE OCTOBER 27, 2020, SPECIAL MEETING OF THE
BOARD OF ALDERMEN BE ADJOURNED BY ROLL CALL

A viva voce roll call was taken to adjourn the Board of Aldermen meeting which resulted as follows:
Yea: Alderman O’Brien, Alderman Klee, Alderman Dowd,

Alderman Caron, Alderman Clemons, Alderman Lopez, Alderman Tencza,

Alderwoman Lu, Alderman Jette, Alderman Schmidt, Alderman Laws,

Alderman Cleaver, Alderman Harriott-Gathright, Alderman Wilshire

14

Nay: 0
MOTION CARRIED

The meeting was declared adjourned at 7:31 p.m.

Attest: Susan K. Lovering, City Clerk

Nashua

NEW HAMPSHIRE’S GATE CITY

NASHUA HOUSING STUDY

Board of Aldermen Discussion

October 2020

RKC, Prepared by
RKG Associates, Inc.

ASSOCIATES INC

GROWTH

The City is expected to continue to grow its
population and employment base. Today’s housing
stock will not accommodate this growth. How and
where does the City want to grow should be a key
consideration in the upcoming Master Plan.

AFFORDABILITY

Housing prices (sales and rents) are outpacing
what most Nashua residents can afford. This
means households having to pay more than they
should to live in the City. How does Nashua
preserve its existing affordable housing stock
while encouraging more to be built city-wide?

MINIMIZE DISPLACEMENT

Housing prices and incomes are rising rapidly in Nashua
creating immense pressure on the lowest income
households to keep up or move out. The displacement of
those households may result in less racial and economic
diversity in some neighborhoods and push those
households further from the jobs and services they depend
on. Making affordable housing available in more locations
across the City would provide more housing choice for the
City’s most vulnerable residents.

FIVE KEY CONSIDERATIONS FOR NASHUA & HOUSING

DOWNTOWN

Downtown Nashua offers tremendous opportunity
to add more housing, but also the greatest threats
for impacting lower-income residents. The City
must employ strategies that improve the quality of
the housing stock and encourage a mix of new
market rate and affordable housing to improve
quality life for all residents in the Downtown area.
Additional households in Downtown will also
provide more spending power which will benefit
local businesses too.

LEVERAGING RESOURCES

The City will need additional resources to address
the housing opportunities and challenges ahead.
Seeking partners who can help with housing issues
will add knowledge, capacity, and funding resources
to match the City’s current efforts. The City should
capitalize on strategic partnerships with non-profits,
housing agencies, banks, and employers.

ASSOCIATES INC

ISSUE & OPPORTUNITY AREA 1
ACCOMMODATING FUTURE GROWTH

ASSOCIATES INC

Population and Age

Total Population Change 1970-2030, City of Nashua

Source: NHGIS, ACS 2013, 2018, EMSI

40%
110,000
——— Nashua
100,000 30%
04.747 96,040
1
1
! I
90,000 ,
86,605 86,494 20%
' ! i I '
i I I
80,000 ! ! ! om
' 1 I I ! ' 1
! I 1 I 1 1 I
70,000 !
' 1 I 1 1 1 1 0%
1 ! I I I I 1 1
1 ! I I I I 1 1
I ! i I I 1 ! I
1 I I I I 1 ! 1
60,000 !
I I 1 1 I
55820 I i ! 10%
1 1 I I I 1
50,000 ! ! :
I 1 1 I I
! 20%
! ! ! !
40,000 : ' I : t : I 1 I
1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 2013 2018 2025 2030

* Population projections show the city could add another 8,000
residents by the year 2030

ASSOCIATES INC

Change in Population by Age 2013-2018

Source: ACS 2013, 2018

mNashua_ mHillsborough

22%
20%

65+ years

25%
15%

18to 24 years 25to34years 35to44 years 45to 54 years 55 to 64 years

9%
6%
4% 5%

-6%

-6%

8%

6 «2%
-9% °
-12%

Under 18

NASHUA IS A RAPIDLY AGING CITY.

Residents over the age of 55 increased 22%

Given that residents ages 35 to 54 decreased over that time period,
suggests some aging in place but also new residents ages 55+ are
moving to Nashua from elsewhere

The city has also seen a decline in the number of school age children

SPECIAL BOARD OF ALDERMEN
OCTOBER 27, 2020
6:30 p.m.

Join Zoom Meeting: https://usO2web.zoom.us/j/8 116856521 1 ?pwd=ZHFRZUJ5VVp0b083Q3BgSGZsL2IZQTO9
Meeting ID: 811 6856 5211 Passcode: 896485

Join by telephone: 1-929-205-6099 Meeting ID: 811 6856 5211 Passcode: 896485

lf there is aproblem accessing the meeting, please dial 603-821-2049 to advise.

PRESIDENT LORI WILSHIRE CALLS ASSEMBLY TO ORDER
PRAYER OFFERED BY CITY CLERK SUSAN LOVERING
PLEDGE TO THE FLAG LED BY ALDERMAN JUNE M. CARON

ROLL CALL

COMMUNICATIONS

From: Lori Wilshire, President

Re: Calling a Special Meeting of the Board of Aldermen on October 27, 2020 at 6:30 p.m. to
discuss affordable housing

From: Sarah Marchant, Community Development Director
Re: Nashua Housing Study

PRESENTATION

Affordable Housing

ADJOURNMENT