As it celebrates its 30-year anniversary helping women and children experiencing homelessness, Marguerite’s Place in Nashua has plans to more than double its transitional living capacity.
The nonprofit was started by Sisters Sharon Walsh and Elaine Fahey and named in honor of St. Marguerite d’Youville, founder of the Grey Nuns of the Sacred Heart, says Executive Director Hannah Stohler.
Using a combination of private donations and grant funding, the sisters purchased two buildings on Palm Street for 10 private apartments for transitional living with on-site childcare and case management services.
“It’s rare that transitional living is apartments. It’s usually community living,” Stohler says. “It’s huge for the residents, and it’s often the first time they have had their own space.”
Women and their children typically live in these furnished apartments at no cost for an average of two to three years while receiving mental health counseling, financial literacy education, and parenting support, according to Stohler. A childcare facility, heavily subsidized by fundraising, is open to residents at no cost and has been available to non-residents since the early 2000s.
Starting in the late 1990s, the sisters began buying condo units, and in 2002, opened 10 scattered-site units as phase two of the organization’s housing services. “Early on, you could move someone from transitional to permanent housing in about 18 months,” Stohler says. “The sisters saw the rumblings of the housing crisis that we see today.” After six years in operation, it took longer to find permanent housing for residents.
Residents graduate to leasing these units at well below market rate while building credit and progressing to their own place, Stohler says. The women and their children continue to receive case management services and typically reside in the condos between three to five years.
Stohler says the condos fill a critical gap between transitional and permanent housing at a time when the demand for such accommodations in NH
is “astronomical.”
“In 2019, we had 40 applications for transitional phase-one housing,” she says. “Last year, we had 265 applications. Part of that was COVID, but really COVID just threw gasoline on the kindling in terms of housing.”
Expansion is a priority for the organization. Last year, it purchased a building on Pine Street behind the childcare center and a capital campaign is underway to renovate and open 15 more apartment units of transitional living with a family resource center and administrative offices in 2026. “It’s going to more than double our transitional housing capacity,” Stohler says.
In addition to housing, the organization began offering support groups for their residents and child-care families in 2022. It’s another area the organization is focused on growing so it’s available to community members, Stolher says. “There are all sorts of people who are accessing services now that never did before.”