[Anonymous, 22:02]

In an attempt to continue the discussion on Article 2 of STM a bit:

There definitely seems to be a stated and unstated undercurrent of feeling that the low-income elderly and disabled are an underserved population in our town (and/or region?). Since I can't claim to be connected to those populations, can someone provide information as to what these feelings are based on? Certainly helping people in need is a worthy pursuit, but as has been stated by several people involved in this discussion, there is no shortage of people in need among different populations.

Does anyone have good, current statistics on the profile of these local populations?

• Low-income elderly in need of housing
• Low-income disabled in need of housing
• Low-income families in need of housing

I heard some passing comments that waiting lists were much longer for low-income families.

I can understand the appeal and advantages of an undifferentiated piece of property to build a moderately large building to provide housing for elderly and disabled, as has been described in some detail by the AHA representatives.

However, I can see the credence to the questions and arguments raised by those advocating for the Symmes Advisory Committee's position that we need to maintain as much flexibility as possible given the size, complexity, and economics of the undertaking we're involved with here.

AHA should be encouraged for the role they're taking in this, of fulfilling their charge to come up with creative proposals to provide for their target populations. Perhaps they can come up with amendments to the SAC recommendations that would require a higher level than the minimum 15% provision for low-income housing; maybe we should make it 30%. Do the economics for the development as a whole get blown up by such a change? Maybe we should put in some type of hard requirements for working with AHA and allowing them to develop a facility (or some variation thereof) such as they're proposing in their Article 2. Perhaps the debate about the details of the full SAC proposal and recommendations and requirements will be a better context for figuring out such an additional provision.