The house on Stack Drive had been up for sale for over a year. After it sold, Matt St. Cyr watched from his home less than 50 feet away as routine renovations took place — new siding, roofing and windows.
He didn’t think much of it. The street is a desirable, quiet pocket of Bow where neighbors know one another, families raise their children and retirees choose to settle down.
Then, St. Cyr saw a white fence go up, wrapping the entire property, and he learned about the house’s new use: Purchased by Indiana-based A.W. Holdings, the four-bedroom, two-bathroom colonial at 14 Stack Drive would be converted into a community living facility to provide housing for individuals with developmental disabilities. He grew increasingly concerned.
“We were given no heads up. It was definitely nothing we were expecting living in a rural neighborhood,” said St. Cyr. “It’s technically a rural neighborhood, not zoned for any type of for-profit business.”
New Hampshire has long struggled with limited capacity to support people with a dual diagnosis of developmental disabilities and mental health needs, often relying on costly out-of-state placements to provide Intensive Treatment Services. These services provide specialized care for people who may engage in high-risk behaviors, such as running away and intentional fire setting, that can cause harm to themselves, others or property.
Public-private contracts are one of the state’s approaches to expanding its housing and treatment capacity for this population. In 2023, A.W. Holdings received $5 million in federal funds, administered through the state Department of Health and Human Services, to purchase 10 single-family homes across New Hampshire. The contract will expand the state’s housing capacity for individuals who may require intensive treatment by 40 beds.
One of those homes has now opened on Stack Drive in Bow. Since the company finalized its agreement, property records show that, in Merrimack County, it has also purchased homes in Pembroke and Concord. It has also purchased properties in other areas, like Rockingham County.
Disability rights advocates like Lisa Beaudoin say that, while facilities with Intensive Treatment Services are not appropriate for all individuals with developmental disabilities, expanding in-state options is both compassionate and fiscally responsible.
“People with developmental disabilities need to be brought home to New Hampshire, because they need to have access to their family, to their friends, to their home communities, so that they can be stepped down from ITS should that be possible,” Beaudoin said. “When families have access to their individual, they have better radars for abuse and neglect.”
Overriding local zoning
But exchanges between Bow and state leaders show these partnerships can create friction between local and state leaders, especially when state agencies override certain conflicting local rules.
In a March letter to Bow’s Zoning Board of Adjustment, the New Hampshire Attorney General’s office stated that “zoning restrictions are inapplicable to the state or its agencies specifically carrying out a state function.”
A.W. Holdings is considered to be performing a state function by providing housing for a specific group of individuals that the state lacks.
Stack Drive is also zoned as a rural district. Typically, establishing a community living facility that provides clinical treatment would require a zoning variance from the town. In this case, the Attorney General’s Office wrote that treating the community residence as requiring a variance could be considered “discriminatory.”
Kip McDaniel, chair of the Bow select board, said that the town has limited ability to take action and few alternatives available.
“Local control is the defining characteristic of New Hampshire,” said McDaniel. “This just seems to fly in the face of the very New Hampshire ethos that you should have a lot of say about what happens where you live. That’s what bothers me.”
St. Cyr said he understands the need for more housing options for people with developmental disabilities or mental health challenges.
Still, he believes Stack Drive isn’t the right fit. St. Cyr said he first became aware of the facility when he saw a resident walking down the middle of the road with a few caregivers following behind loudly, causing a scene. It felt to him as if the woman was being held against her will.
He said he worries about the residents’ wellbeing in a rural area, as well as what the facility’s presence on Stack Drive might mean for its neighbors.
“I don’t feel that these people need to be discriminated against. They definitely need to have somewhere to be housed,” St. Cyr said. “But I feel there are appropriate areas within towns that are better set up for the services they need, like public transportation, which we have none of close proximity to.”
Mary Beth Walz, another Stack Drive resident, feels differently.
She noticed two women moving items into the house one day, and after asking about the property and learning how it would be managed, she said she felt comfortable with the change.
According to the agreement with the state, staff must be present at the house around the clock, seven days a week, and a quarterly report on the operations must be submitted to the state. State documents also indicate that each house A.W. Holdings uses to provide services must accommodate between two and six individuals.
Walz said she has already met one resident and sees the potential for them to integrate into the neighborhood by participating in activities like the local book club or fall picnics.
“I think there’s nothing wrong with having this house in the neighborhood,” said Walz. “I don’t see them as a danger… As far as I’m concerned, they’re welcome in the neighborhood.”
Despite potential friction with local town governments, Beaudoin said it is critically important that these types of houses be in neighborhoods alongside people without disabilities to provide residents with an ordinary life.
“We have a popular culture narrative about them that is filled with negative stigma and breeds fear and that’s unfortunate,” Beaudoin said. “When someone is in intensive treatment, they typically always have a caregiver with them. It is perfectly safe to have people with developmental disabilities in one’s neighborhood.”