“One of the most persistent challenges we are facing in Nashua is the issue of how we may best help our unhoused citizens. On the cityside, we have formed a City Hall team over the past several months consisting of officers from the Nashua Police Department, staff from Nashua Public Health, Nashua Welfare, and Nashua Emergency Management, together with myself and other staff from my office. We have been abe to meet, identify, and talk with our unhoused residents, and we have developed of roster of these folks. Using a case management approach, we are trying to address individual problems and to connect individuals with appropriate services. One recent insight is that many in the unhoused population lack any kind of personal identification. Without IDs it is difficult, if not impossible, to get a job and to access many needed services. And getting a government-issued ID is difficult since it requires a birth certificate or some other form of equivalent personal documentation. Our city team is involved in this small, but important project to provide our unhoused people with identification. And now the cold months are upon us, and we are assessing how to help over the coming fall and winter.”
~ Mayor Jim Donchess September 5, 2023
