KEENE, N.H. (MyKeeneNow) After a pipe burst in the Marlborough Homes on Jan. 10 of last year, which displaced 23 senior households, the process of moving those tenants back in is nearing the finish line, with just a few more “punch-list items,” according to Southwestern Community Services CEO Beth Daniels.

In an interview on WKBK’s Good Morning Program on Jan. 14 of 2025 following the incident, Daniels said the timeline of moving residents back into their homes would be “several months,” and that while they needed to secure the building, SCS’s main focus was on the residents of the Marlborough Homes. Residents began moving back into their homes on Dec. 20 of last year.

“The tenants have been very patient with us, as patient as they can be,” Daniels said. “I’m sure there were times that they were very frustrated, but they’ve been kind of amazing to work with despite everything that they’ve been through.” 

While the majority of tenants have moved back into the apartments devastated by excessive flooding that left the building uninhabitable, Daniels said it was a long process that took resources from every community partner SCS has, as well as businesses not associated with the service. 

“We’ve been lucky because we’ve been working with Keene Housing for so many years,” Daniels said. “… the Marlborough Fire Department was super helpful that night, the Monadnock Humane Society stayed open late that night so that we could make sure a cat was taken care of in the short term … The Marriott Hotel actually really came through too. There were months where we were covering hotel rooms for people, so the Marriott was very helpful.”

Daniels said they can’t call the rebuilding process “officially” complete, even as the building has been fully rebuilt after the water damage it sustained. Punch-list items still exist, and these range from appliances being installed to residents preferring certain hooks on certain doors and everything in between. She said SCS knew ahead of time with certain delivery dates that not everything would arrive in time for when tenants arrived back at their residences.

“[It’s] really just unit by unit and seeing if anything needed to be addressed,” Daniels said. “It did not affect their ability to move back in, but definitely [was] going to be wrapped before the project could be officially closed.”

Daniels said that some residents of the Marlborough Homes were able to take part in a program that Keene Housing offers for displaced individuals or families, and that some of those affected “basically transitioned from Southwestern Community Services to Keene Housing,” for longer-term or permanent housing, while others used it in the short-term.

“If it had not been for [Keene Housing] bringing our attention to this resource, I think there would have been an assumption on our part that it takes some time to get through the housing process,” Daniels said. “It would have been unfair of us to think that they could offer short term housing, but they completely did, which was pretty great.”

Daniels said that while 2025 was a difficult year for the Marlborough Homes, she hopes 2026 will be better. She thanked the community partners who “helped us out while we were struggling a bit.” In the SCS community newsletter for winter 2026, Daniels wrote “… we are so very appreciative of the efforts of the community partners, vendors, and SCS staff who worked tirelessly during the demo and reconstruction at our Marlborough Homes property … we start 2026 with grateful hearts!”

In a message to the greater Monadnock community, Daniels said she wanted to remind people that the building is “back online” as part of SCS’s housing portfolio as a housing resource in the community.