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Residents urge repeal of Nashua camping ban and call for resource center; board schedules committee review
Summary
Dozens of residents and organizers used the public comment period to urge repeal of Nashua's camping ban and demand more shelter beds, immediate relief and a resource center; the board assigned a new homeless services gap analysis committee (R-26-049) to committee for study.
A prolonged public comment period on July 14 brought scores of residents, advocates and organizers to the Nashua Board of Aldermen to call for repeal of the city's camping ban and for more immediate housing and services.
Patrice Noel, a 71-year-old Nashua resident who said she faces eviction, told the board "there is no affordable housing" and described a three- to five-year wait for affordable units. "I'm on the verge of being homeless," she said. Ben Heaney, speaking for community members who oppose the camping ban, said the ordinance has driven some people to sleep miles from services and described fines and enforcement that he said have caused harm.
Members of the Democratic Socialists of America and other speakers urged immediate repeal rather than committee study. "Repeal the camping ban," said Matt (DSA). Several speakers urged the city to use vacant industrial properties and other real estate for housing and to restore a planned resource center that advocates said had been sidelined.
A number of aldermen acknowledged the speakers and expressed sympathy while noting constraints. Alderman Morgan thanked speakers and proposed a training or session on decorum for the board; Alderman Kelly said she found many of the personal accounts "hard to hear" and stressed finding solutions; Alderman Tebow and others emphasized safety and operational concerns that led to the camping ban, saying the encampment at Mine Falls had become dangerous and that emergency access and fires were part of the rationale.
Council leadership introduced R-26-049, a first-reading resolution to establish a homeless services gap analysis committee and sent it to the Personnel Administrative Affairs Committee for further review. Sponsors listed on the measure included a number of aldermen. The resolution did not take final action at the meeting; the committee assignment will bring more formal study and staff briefings.
Speakers also raised transparency concerns, requests for data on where new tenants would come from, and allegations about enforcement and property handling; board members repeatedly invited those with complaints to file police reports or public-record follow-ups where evidence is required.
