Their dream home has become a place of nightmares.
A New Hampshire family is being terrorized by a homeless encampment that sprouted up behind their historic home, leading to violent encounters with the vagrants, according to a report.
Robin Bach and her husband spent years restoring their 19th-century dream home in Concord to raise their two children, ages 8 and 11 — but have been plagued by the campers living in the woods behind the palatial abode.
They’ve received death threats and have heard gunshots and screams from beyond the tree line. A swingset in their backyard, bought in 2020 during the pandemic, sits untouched by her terrified children, who will only play in the front yard.
Advertisement
“I can’t even use my backyard. My kids can’t go out there,” Bach told the Concord Monitor. “I would like my children to be independent and feel comfortable going outside and playing and they won’t.
“This is the worst it’s ever been, It’s the worst it’s ever been.”
Trash has piled up at a homeless encampment behind Robin Bach’s Concord, New Hampshire, home. Michael Barnett/Facebook
Since purchasing the house in 2018 with grand plans to renovate and raise a family, Bach has called police 37 times, according to police records reviewed by the newspaper. Six calls were for an area check, another six for disturbances as well as domestic violence and criminal trespassing incidents.
During one of their first summers in the house, Bach’s husband found a man, who they had previously seen lurking in the woods near some tents, sitting in their backyard. When he asked the man to leave, the interloper threatened to shoot him.
The man returned several times until Bach filed a restraining order against him — and cops hauled him off in handcuffs as her young children watched, she told the Concord Monitor.
Advertisement
In another incident, she was teaching her son how to do laundry when they heard chilling screams of some yelling, “Get off me, get off me” coming from the encampment, prompting another police call.
The problem has only gotten worse since Bach moved into the home in 2018. Google Maps
A dumpster fire behind a neighbor’s home two doors down sent wailing firetrucks rushing up her street to put out the blaze, the outlet said.
When Bach asked for a quote to install a chain link fence around her property, she was disheartened to learn that it would cost $50,000, she told the Monitor.
“I can’t afford to clean it up. I can’t physically do it myself,” she said about the garbage visible from the house. “So the trash remains.”
What was once just one or two tents when she first moved in, the camp has ballooned to about half a dozen, as New Hampshire experiences one of the largest percentage increases in homelessness in the country, according to the paper.
Advertisement
Bach said her children are scared to play in the backyard because of the encampment. @robinlanebach/TikTok
The encampment on Bach’s property poses a unique challenge because it borders property and train tracks owned by CSX, a freight railroad company.
While Concord police can go and issue no-trespassing orders at any time, CSX also has its own police detail that will sweep the area and arrest people.
Police are able to clear out the camp and have done so a few times and tried to connect them with local programs to find stable housing — but that’s the extent of the city’s involvement on private property, meaning the litter stays.
And, after the police have moved the campers out, they just return in a matter of days, Bach told the Monitor.
While police have repeatedly removed the campers, the city does not clean up their mess. Michael Barnett/Facebook
“We have a pretty significant homeless problem,” Barrett Moulton, the deputy chief of patrol and police liaison on the city’s homeless steering committee, told the outlet. “They’re going to be somewhere.”
Advertisement
“It’s Whack-a-Mole,” Bach echoed. “You can’t just ask them to leave, they’re going to go somewhere else. You have to give them someplace to go.”
Bach understands that squatters behind her home need assistance and stability. She recently spoke to a man who holds a day job and tries to keep the area around his ten clean.
She and other local leaders believe a solution would be to create a designated campsite for the homeless in the city, where much-needed resources and outreach can be concentrated in one place.
“You can put your tent here, here’s bathrooms, dumpsters,” she said. “They’ve come here and told them to move a million times, they don’t move.”
The Supreme Court ruled last week that homeless people can be ticketed and fined for camping on public property in a landmark decision, which will likely lead to cities across the country to take legal action against the unhoused.
Advertisement
Last year, about 650,000 individuals in the US lacked a permanent place to live, according to the US Department of Housing and Urban Development, a 12% increase from 2022 and the most since tracking began in 2007.
ERROL, N.H. (WHDH) – One person is dead and five others have been hospitalized after a head-on crash in Columbia, New Hampshire on Friday night, officials said.
Officers responding to a reported crash on Route 3 around 9 p.m. determined a Chevrolet Silverado heading southbound was struck head-on by a Chevrolet Camaro that was heading northbound and crossed the centerline, according to New Hampshire State Police.
Two adults and three children in the Silverado were taken to Upper Connecticut Valley Hospital in Colebrook. Two had non-life-threatening injuries and three had life-threatening injuries. All five were later transferred to Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center.
The driver of the Camaro, Courtney Diamond, 25, of Pelham, New Hampshire, was pronounced dead at the scene.
Advertisement
Anyone with information that may assist in the investigation is asked to contact Trooper Jacob Ingerson at (603) 846-3333 or Jacob.J.Ingerson@dos.nh.gov.
(Copyright (c) 2026 Sunbeam Television. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
Join our Newsletter for the latest news right to your inbox
Recently published data reflect the ongoing increases in the price of child care and decreases in access to care in New Hampshire, placing additional economic strain on Granite State families seeking affordable and high-quality care for their children. The price of child care for a family with an infant and a four-year old seeking center-based care averaged about $30,000 in 2025, up from $22,500 in 2017, while the number of licensed center and home-based child care providers has declined by 120 since 2017.
The national organization Child Care Aware of America (CCAoA) released its 2025 annual report on May 13, 2026. The report outlines the state-by-state early childhood education landscape, including both the price of care and provider supply within each state. In New Hampshire, these data were collected through the CCAoA’s New Hampshire Child Care Resource and Referral Agency and the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). Together, these data provide valuable, and updated, insights into the state’s early childhood care landscape and the challenges Granite State families face in accessing and affording child care services.
Rising price of early childhood education in NH
Based on analysis conducted by CCAoA, the average price of child care in New Hampshire in 2025 remains high for Granite State families. The average price of care for an infant and toddler in center-based care was $16,462 and $15,262, respectively, in 2025. For home-based care, the 2025 average price was $12,017 for an infant and $11,732 for a toddler. Furthermore, for a family with an infant and toddler making approximately the median income for a married couple with two children under age 5 in New Hampshire, the price of center-based care for their children would amount to approximately 25% of their family income. This financial burden is even greater for a single or unmarried mother, earning the median income of approximately $52,000 in New Hampshire, as paying the full average price of center-based child care for an infant and toddler would consume 61% of family income.
Additionally, these prices in care have increased substantially over time. From 2017 to 2025, the average enrollment price of center-based care and home-based care increased 32% and 30%, respectively. The largest increase in tuition prices during this period was 33% for toddlers and 4-year-olds in center-based care, as well as for 4-year-olds in home-based care. These increases in tuition prices outpaced inflation during the same period.
Advertisement
For many Granite State families, the price for child care tuition will represent their greatest annual expense, particularly for families with multiple children and those living in rural regions of the state. According to Economic Policy Institute’s Family Budget Calculator, a family with two adults and two children living in Coos County, the New Hampshire county with the lowest cost of living, would spend on average 2.5 times more for center-based care for an infant and toddler than they would on housing. As affordability challenges and the overall cost of living continue to rise, some families may have to contend with difficult tradeoffs among essential household and family expenses, including child care services.
Although care for infants and toddlers are often the most expensive forms of care, child care-related expenses do not end once children enter kindergarten. Many families continue paying for before- and after-school programs, summer care, and school vacation coverage for years afterward. As a result, the costs outlined in this analysis likely represent only one portion of the broader child care expenses many Granite State families face.
Childcare supply challenges persist
While the price of child care tuition in New Hampshire remains high, the number of licensed providers has declined over time. The CCAoA’s report indicated that, in 2025, there were 613 licensed center-based programs and 104 home-based programs across New Hampshire. However, since 2017, the number of licensed center-based and home-based programs decreased by 10% and 32%, respectively. The greater closure rate in home-based programs across the State may have a disproportionate impact on families with low and moderate incomes seeking more affordable care options, as well as families in rural regions, communities of color, and families seeking non-traditional hour care, who rely more on this type of care to fill the gaps in available care from other providers. This decrease in number of providers, particulars those in home-based settings and in rural regions of the State, has likely placed further strain on family’s access to care, as they may have to travel longer distances for child care services.
Alongside the overall decline in child care providers during this period, the number of center-based programs participating in the New Hampshire Quality Rated Improvement System, or Granite Steps for Quality (GSQ), a statewide program designed to assess and improve the quality of care services in early childhood education settings, has decreased 16%. Of the remaining 99 providers that participated in the GSQ in 2025, only four reached the highest level of quality, or step 4 of the GSQ. These findings suggest that, as families navigate New Hampshire’s shrinking child care supply landscape in the State, they are encountering fewer options that offer recognized high-quality care services.
Families and providers continue to face growing financial pressures
The average tuition prices reported in the CCAoA’s analysis of the New Hampshire Early Childhood Education landscape do not necessarily reflect the cost of care all families pay for enrollment, or the cost providers pay for delivery of care services. Many families with low and moderate incomes qualify for the New Hampshire’s Child Care Scholarship Program (NHCCSP), a federal-State fiscal partnership that helps Granite State families afford child care through a tiered voucher system. Families who are eligible to participate in the NHCCSP may pay a weekly “cost share” of anywhere from $0 to 7% of their family income, with different tiers of eligibility depending on those family income levels. Families enrolled in the NHCCSP may also be charged a “co-payment” by the provider if tuition exceeds the weekly standard rates set by DHHS. In 2024, State policymakers expanded NHCCSP income eligibility for families, resulting in a significant increase in the number of families enrolled in the program, though this growth has slowed in recent months.
Advertisement
Beyond the increase in eligibility for families in the 2024 expansion, policymakers also increased reimbursement rates for participating providers. While the provider reimbursement rates are set through the State’s Child Care Market Rate Survey, the prices only account for enrollment tuition prices. Consequently, these rates only capture what providers estimate families are willing and able to pay, but do not necessarily account for the provider costs for delivering high-quality care services and operating costs, including facility expenses, workforce and staff compensation, staff training, professional development training, as well as other costs. To supplement this gap in revenue, some providers turn to additional revenue streams such as grants, donations, and fundraising initiatives.
The rising price of child care tuition, coupled with the declining supply of providers in recent years, reflects the growing financial pressures families and child care providers face in New Hampshire. While programs such as the NHCCSP have an important and necessary role in reducing these barriers, additional State funding initiatives and policy strategies may be needed to more adequately address these challenges and provide meaningful financial relief for families seeking to access child care.
The New Hampshire Fiscal Policy Institute is sharing these articles with the partners in The Granite State News Collaborative. NHFPI is an independent nonprofit organization that explores, develops and promotes public policies that foster economic opportunity and prosperity for all New Hampshire residents. For more information visit nhfpi.org. These articles are being shared by partners in The Granite State News Collaborative. For more information visit collaborativenh.org.
SALEM, N.H. — A Lowell High School freshman was identified on Friday as the victim of a fatal shooting in Salem, where authorities say the 15‑year‑old was found dead outside a home during the pre-dawn hours.
New Hampshire Attorney General John Formella’s office said in a press release that police responding to a 911 call discovered the teen, identified as Wichai Saksene, just outside the residence on Orchard Terrace.
An autopsy later determined he died from a single gunshot wound to the chest, and his death has been ruled a homicide.
Authorities said the circumstances remain under active investigation but noted there is no known threat to the public, as all involved parties have been identified.
Advertisement
In a message that began “sad news for your awareness,” Lowell Public Schools Superintendent Liam Skinner told School Committee members that Saksene was a Lowell High freshman and former student of Stoklosa Middle School and Lincoln Elementary School.
He added that central office staff are assisting Lowell High with communications to staff and families and that Student Support Services has activated a critical incident team to be at the high school on Monday.
The Salem Police Department stated in a social media post that they are working with the New Hampshire State Police Major Crimes Unit and Formella’s office to investigate the shooting.
Follow Aaron Curtis on X @aselahcurtis, or on Bluesky @aaronscurtis.bsky.social.
