Building CommunityLRCD supports resident-led projects and activities because it builds relationships between neighbors and provides opportunities to develop leadership skills. This summer, residents across our portfolio led the building and planting of seven community gardens, started a Neighborhood Watch, and re-established a Girl Scout Troop! Dental Funds Needed Our Dental Program provides matching payments to dental providers to help our adult tenants access the dental care they need. We are almost out of money in our dental fund! All donations made to LRCD during the months of August and September will go into our dental fund. Please tell your friends! Click HERE to help us replenish this fund. We launched our Dental Program in October 2020, after learning through a survey that 70% of our adult tenants were not accessing dental care due to lack of insurance and inability to pay. The vast majority of our tenants have household incomes below 50% of area median income. Although most indicated they had health insurance, very few had dental insurance. Those on Medicaid who now have a dental benefit struggle to find dentists who accept Medicaid. This leaves even routine dental care out of financial reach for most of our tenants. Patty is a tenant at LRCD's Pinecrest Apartments in Meredith and she serves on LRCD's Board of Directors. Patty, whose teeth never came in right as a child, shares, “by the time my birthday rolls around, I will actually, for the first time in my entire life, have a smile I will be proud of. And LRCD is helping to make that happen for me.” Harriman Hill PermittedGood news! The Town of Wolfeboro has granted land use approvals for Harriman Hill Phase III, which will consist of 30 affordable rental apartments in a mix of unit sizes. Phase III was originally intended to be a 20-unit homeownership project, but when construction costs made that infeasible, we pivoted to a rental project. We are excited to complete the Harriman Hill development. Phases I & II were built in 2012 and 2014, respectively. We will find out if Phase III is awarded funding toward the end of the year.  LRCD Office - Energy Efficiency & SolarAlthough we moved in to our "new" office at 193 Court Street in Laconia back in 2019, there was still quite a list of improvements needed to ensure our forever home was in line with our value of building climate-resilient communities. We completed that work this year, including remediating asbestos-containing material in the attic, adding spray foam insulation to the attic and basement, and adding rigid foam insulation and new siding to the north and rear-facing exterior. We also installed a 33-panel rooftop solar array, which will generate more electricity than we use each year. Check out the before / after photos below. Thank you to the NH Community Development Finance Authority for awarding us NH tax credits to help us raise the needed funds and to the donors who made this possible! Franklin Savings Bank Hodges Companies Leone, McDonnell & Roberts Main Street America Assurance Company Melcher & Prescott Insurance Meredith Village Savings Bank Northway Bank Resilient Buildings Group Rogers Family Trust Sheehan Phinney Stafford Oil Company Wescott Law Thank You Stewart Property Management Thank you to Stewart Property Management for being a Housing Champion and supporting our work! Bay Street UpdateDespite the big need for supportive housing, we are encountering opposition to our proposed Bay Street Apartments at 17 Bay Street in Laconia. The project would clean up a burned-out building and create 12 efficiency apartments for individuals with less than $20,000 in income who are experiencing homelessness or at-risk of homelessness. Lakes Region Mental Health Center (LRMHC) would provide supportive services to the tenants, including benefits counseling, financial management, independent living skills training, healthcare management, employment services, and crisis intervention. LRMHC serves thousands of Lakes Region residents every year. Among their existing clients, approximately 100 people lack stable housing, making the 12 units at Bay Street merely a drop in the bucket in terms of the need for this type of housing. We go back to the Planning Board on October 3rd. If you are a Laconia resident, we encourage you to attend the meeting and share your thoughts on the need for supportive housing in Laconia to help address the crisis of homelessness.  Comments are closed.
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193 Court Street, Laconia, NH 03246 • 603.524.0747
© 2019 Lakes Region Community Developers