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.
