Posted by Susy Thielen on April 29th, 2008 — in Housing News, Monadnock Region Coalition, NH Housing Coalitions, Smart Growth
Learn how New Hampshire’s changing human ecology is impacting our economic vitality.
See the full length film, “Communities & Consequences,” The Unbalancing of New Hampshire’s Human Ecology, & What We Can Do About It.
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
5:30 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.
Recital Hall, Redfern Arts Center
Keene State College, Keene, NH
5:30 p.m. – 5:55 p.m. - Registration and refreshments
6:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. - “Communities & Consequences” film.
7:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m. - Audience questions, answers and discussion session with expert panelists, facilitated by a moderator.
Panelists:
Peter Francese, Demographer, Author
Dick Couch, CEO Hypertherm
Curt Hiebert, CEO, Keene Housing Authority
Katie Cassidy-Sutherland, Architect, Daniel V. Scully Architects
Ryan Owens, Director, Monadnock Conservancy
Moderator: Steve Chase, Director of Environmental Advocacy Program, Antioch Univer., New England
Seating is Limited.
Please RSVP
352-1303 or info@keenechamber.com
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Posted by Susy Thielen on July 9th, 2007 — in Housing News, NH Housing Coalitions
By ASHLEY SMITH, Nashua Telegraph Staff
asmith@nashuatelegraph.com
Published: Sunday, Jul. 8, 2007
BOSTON – On the harbor in East Boston, there’s a public housing development that looks nothing like “the projects.”
Rows of new townhomes, painted in shades of blue, tan and salmon, face tree-lined sidewalks. It happens to be trash day on this Tuesday, but the narrow streets are otherwise immaculate. In a grassy back yard, three kids jump rope.
It isn’t utopia, but it’s city-subsidized housing as few have seen it.
There’s a park in the middle of this 10-block development, neatly landscaped with a fountain and benches. Nearby is the community center, where neighborhood kids can access the Internet for free in a supervised environment.
Here at Maverick Landing, well-paid young professionals live side by side with families on government assistance. About 80 percent of the tenants receive aid, paying rent based upon their income. The other 20 percent pay no less than $1,700 per month for a one-bedroom unit.
The concept is a hit. Leasing manager Laura DeLuca has run out of units to lease, the last one snagged last week.
So what does all this have to do with Nashua?
On Tuesday, a group of local leaders – bank officials, a mayoral candidate, a retired executive, nonprofit heads – piled into a 15-passenger van to visit the neighborhood. They strolled the streets, talking about what a development like Maverick Landing would do for Nashua, perhaps in the Tree Streets or the East Hollis Street corridor.
Most are members of the Greater Nashua Workforce Housing Coalition, a task force dedicated to bringing affordable housing to the city, but the tour was led by Alan Manoian, the city’s former assistant director of downtown development.
Manoian is leading the push to bring this “New Urbanist” type of development to Nashua in his new role as the economic development officer for Hampshire First Bank, a relatively new local bank.
There’s no specific plan for Nashua yet – the push is in its infancy – but Hampshire First hopes to get other banks and city aldermen on board.
Manoian describes New Urbanist development as “the alternative to suburban, automobile-oriented sprawl.” It’s a national movement to re-create the type of downtown living that diminished when families spread to the suburbs.
It involves building densely populated, mixed-use neighborhoods that have access to public transit, he said.
“Nashua, unfortunately, for the past 40 years has developed sprawl,” Manoian said. “Here’s a profound concept: What if we shopped where we lived? What if we worked near where we live?”
Solving problems?
Of course, Manoian doesn’t believe for a second that introducing this type of development would be easy, even in small scale. But here are some of the recurring city issues he and the task force think it would help solve:
• The affordable housing shortage: With the median home price in Nashua around $300,000, this is the reason a work-force housing coalition exists. The task force defines “affordable” as housing that costs no more than 30 percent of a family’s income.
Manoian said the key to affordable housing is density, like that of downtown Nashua before the 1960s, when the neighborhoods behind Main Street were demolished as part of an urban renewal project. Now there’s a realization that Nashua needs balance between downtown living and the suburbs.
Manoian said density tends to scare people because they think of old-style institutional housing projects, but that modern work-force housing, if well designed, doesn’t mean overcrowding.
n The exodus of young workers: With surveys showing that New Hampshire college graduates increasingly take jobs elsewhere, this is a hot topic all over the state. The Greater Nashua Chamber of Commerce has tried to address the “brain drain” locally by creating a social and networking group for young professionals.
But to entice those young professionals to stay, they still need places to live.
Manoian said Nashua is losing young workers who aren’t yet ready to move to the suburbs but who can’t find affordable housing downtown. And without an available pool of these employees, companies won’t locate here, he said.
n The high price of suburban sprawl: Manoian blames the shift away from traditional downtown living for escalating property taxes. The farther away shops and workplaces are, the more roads need to built and maintained, he said. Then you need more police cruisers to patrol those roads. Soon, you need a new fire station and more city employees. It’s expensive to operate a municipality that way, he said.
Sprawl also adds to personal transportation costs, because families need to travel everywhere they go by car rather than public transportation or on foot, Manoian said. He also maintains that public transportation – such as the long-discussed commuter rail in Nashua – is an essential part of New Urbanism.
ENLARGE PHOTO
The Maverick Landing housing project in Boston’s east side surrounds the Albert “Junior” Lombardi Memorial Park.
Staff photo by Bob Hammerstrom
The Maverick Landing housing project in Boston’s east side surrounds the Albert “Junior” Lombardi Memorial Park.
Order this photo
Looking ahead
It may be surprising to some that a bank is involved in developing affordable housing, but Manoian doesn’t think so. As of one of the few locally owned banks left, Hampshire First considers the city’s economic development part of its mission, he said.
“In our mind, that’s what a new bank should be doing,” Manoian said. “The banks have to be involved. Someone has to do the financing.”
Considering the upcoming mayoral election, the time seems right to push for change, Manoian said. One of the housing task force members, former Great American Downtown President Donnalee Lozeau, is a candidate for mayor.
Other local leaders on the tour were United Way of Greater Nashua Vice President Ray Peterson, Milford Community Development Director Bill Parker, Greater Nashua Chamber of Commerce President Chris Williams, Hampshire First Director of Community Banking Jay Dinkel and recently retired Merrimack Anheuser-Busch Plant Manager Denny Nesbitt.
After leaving Maverick Landing on Tuesday, the group made a quick stop in Medford, Mass., to see a different example of New Urbanist development. Called Station Landing, it’s an upscale mixed-use development with shops and restaurants on the street level and luxury condos above.
Manoian said some hybrid of the two might be right for Nashua. Like Maverick Landing in East Boston, Station Landing was designed around access to public transportation. It was built around an MBTA station.
“The common thread between the two is the automobile is not the focus of my lifestyle,” Manoian said.
Ashley Smith can be reached at 594-6446 or asmith@nashuatelegraph.com.
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Posted by Susy Thielen on January 17th, 2007 — in Housing News, NH Housing Coalitions
By Steve Landwehr, Staff writer
Salem News, NH
IPSWICH - Martha Frost has an important, rewarding job. She works with frail, elderly patients who can’t pay for the medical services they need without going into a nursing home.
“I firmly believe in helping people stay in their own homes,” Frost said.
But Frost, 47, has never owned her own home.
Like many social service workers, she doesn’t get paid a lot of money - she figures if she’s lucky she might be making $40,000 a year within the next five years. That’s well above the poverty line, but nowhere near enough to fulfill her dream of buying a house in her hometown of Ipswich.
Frost’s is one of the affordable-housing stories that seldom gets told. Read the rest of this page »
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