Gafney Home senior living apartments project gets funding to move forward in Rochester

ROCHESTER — Funding assistance from the New Hampshire Housing Authority will allow redevelopment of a Victorian home that was most recently used until 2019 as an assisted living facility.

The renovated Gafney Home, located at 90 Wakefield St, and owned by Community Action Partnership of Strafford County, is set to become affordable independent living units for seniors in a $4.2 million project that has been a couple years in the making.

According to the NH Housing documents, There will be 21 units in two existing buildings: the Victorian mansion (1897) and an attached annex (1960), along with detached carriage house. The buildings will be rehabilitated to include 10 studio units, nine one-bedroom units, and two, two-bedroom units.

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"Community Action Partnership of Strafford County was able to acquire the Gafney Home building after the Gafney Home board closed its assisted living facility and relocated the residents," said Julian L. Long, community development coordinator/grants manager for the city of Rochester. "The building will be renovated to create self-sufficient apartment units for elderly residents who are lower income."

Long said the project is a partnership with Community Action Partnership of Strafford County and the Strafford Regional Planning Commission.

"The goal is to begin early in 2022, depending on finalizing the different funding sources," he said. "It is a multi-million-dollar project."