A major advocate for Concord’s homeless community is on the path to accomplishing one of its biggest goals.
The Concord Coalition to End Homelessness wants to convert a building at 10 Green St., currently owned by the Merrimack County government, into four one-bedroom units.
The apartments will be Section 8 housing meant for homeless individuals. Tenants will be supported by Coalition caseworkers during and after their stay, should they find other housing.
The housing is a big step for the coalition, whose leadership has said that creating more low-barrier residences is critical for ending homelessness in the Capital City.
“It’s really exciting for us,” said Michael Leuchtenberger, chair of the Coalition’s board of directors. “It’s one of our biggest goals, creating real, new housing opportunities for people who are chronically homeless.”
Leuchtenberger estimated there are about 150 people in the greater Concord area who experience chronic homelessness, which he defined as someone who has been homeless multiple times or consistently for about a year.
The Coalition has about 14 people in its Housing First program – a system that provides housing vouchers and caseworker support through federal U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development funds – but this would be the first time the nonprofit has ventured into the landlord realm.
“Our initial hope was to find landlords in the Concord community for folks who are chronically homeless,” Leuchtenberger said. But that proved to be difficult, he said.
Tenants will not be expected to contribute more than one-third of their total income – whatever that may be – for rent, Leuchtenberger said.
For the apartments to happen, the Coalition needs a medley of variances from Concord’s Zoning Board of Adjustment allowing them to convert a non-conforming structure into a multi-family housing building and to continue use of the non-conforming parking lot. They’ll do so at a public hearing on Wednesday.
The Coalition is arguing that their request isn’t out of character with the neighborhood or the spirit of the city’s code laws. They also say their proposal is in line with the city’s bigger goals.
“(The proposal) will expand the available housing supply, recognized by the Master Plan as a housing goal of the City and in the public’s interest,” Coalition Executive Director Ellen Groh wrote in the variance request. “In fact, it will expand the housing supply to those who need it most, lessening the burden on the city’s public services.”
The 2,435-square-foot multi-level building located between Blake and Warren streets dates back to 1800. According to Groh, some of the apartments may need to be less than 600 square feet, a requirement of the city’s zoning codes for converting older residential buildings into multi-unit structures. A ramp would be constructed to provide accessibility for people with disabilities.
If it succeeds, the Coalition’s apartments will be among the few dedicated to low-income renters – and will be very different from the housing developments that have made headlines recently.
Like the rest of New Hampshire, Concord’s rental market has been tight, with vacancy rates hovering below 2% since 2014. Rents for two-bedroom apartments have increased by 17% in that same time frame.
There are 1,078 assisted-housing units in Concord, according to recent city data. That doesn’t include Section 8 housing; about 272 of those units are age-restricted to elderly tenants.
The city’s website mentions three local agencies that provide assistance or manage assisted housing: CATCH Housing, the Concord Housing Authority and Families in Transition.
Two pending projects in Penacook – the Caleb Group’s plan to bring over 50 units to the former tannery site and CATCH Housing’s proposal to bring 42 units to the Village Street apartment complex – will offer some workforce housing units, or housing that is affordable to a family of three making 60% of their area’s median income.
(Editor’s note: A previous version of this article misidentified the type of housing the Coalition would be providing.)(Caitlin Andrews can be reached at 369-3309, candrews@cmonitor.com or on Twitter at @ActualCAndrews.)