Special Board of Aldermen 09-08-2021 Page 11
Tim Cummings Economic Development Director
To answer your questions, technically yes you can provide incentives with this type of money to incentivize or
encourage new supply or redevelopment of existing housing stock. That is absolutely one of the uses and strategies
that should be looked at. | would discourage you from offering a subsidy unless it was absolutely necessary and it
was proven. You could use the money to make loans — generous, flexible financial terms would be maybe one way.
Again to replenish the money so you're not out of the $10 million in this example or whatever that number is 5, 10
years from now. Or you could if it is of value to you to incentivize a project to try to give an infusion of capital into a
project. If you did that, | would look for you to in return get some deed restrictions. A certain percentage of the unit
should be set aside for a certain period of time. | would suggest in perpetuity and you'd look at indexing the median
area income at, again I’m talking out loud here — but 80 percent of area median income. Or maybe you look at
targeting those funds at certain areas to encourage affordable housing to be developed in certain places of the city.
There’s many different strategies we could undertake to achieve creation of more affordable housing within Nashua.
President Wilshire
Follow up?
Alderman Klee
Yes please. Thank you. Thank you for the clarification Director Cummings. Much what Alderwoman Kelly had
mentioned about the housing funding. That was one of the intent was to use it for loans. You know whether it be
large loans at low interest and flexible type of things that would help and encourage people. | agree. That’s what |
would rather see than to see subsidies. | have anxiety sometimes about deed restrictions because too many of those
ties the hands of growth of city and so on. I’m not against them when it comes to low income type of housing. Thank
you so much for that.
Tim Cummings Economic Development Director
Yeah absolutely Alderman Klee. | would suggest with deed restrictions what it does is it helps starve off gentrification.
Alderman Klee
Yes and that’s what | would like to see. | think Alderman Lopez has brought issue up and | would fear that that could
happen in some of the areas like French Hill as well and downtown. So thank you.
Alderman Dowd
Yes | just want to ask Director Cummings. Does the timing on this work out so we can align what we end up spending
this money on with the new city master plan? | think there should be an aligned otherwise one of the two things is not
correct.
Tim Cummings Economic Development Director
Yes you could at least to the initial stages of the master plan. The money will all need to be committed by | want to
say by the end of the calendar year of 2024. So we could absolutely use the master plan as one of the guiding litmus
tests for when selecting projects and using the master plan as, again, one of the lenses for trying to use the funds for
affordable housing. To make sure it adheres to the wishes of the community.
Alderman Dowd
| think there’s a lot of work going into the master plan and we should try to align as best as possible.
Tim Cummings Economic Development Director
Director Marchant is here and she could probably speak to it better than | could.
Sarah Marchant, Community Development Director
Good evening. Thank you. So the timeline for the approval of the master plan is actually we hope to be before you
with legislation submitted today and to be before you maybe October 12" for final approval. So we do have a public
