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Most people helped by LHA are Lexington residents. Town employees receive preferences for public housing. Most of the persons in public housing are senior citizens who are retired and living alone. Most of the housing units among the 33o are one bedroom units. LHA staff meet monthly with other staff from such towns as Woburn, Winchester, Newburyport, Somerville, and the North Shore. These meetings are generally coordinated with the Council on Aging and LexHab. Among the most pressing housing needs, according to the staff director, are new units for the elderly, but federal and state agencies are currently cutting back to zero new units and are reducing the funds that landlords are paid. 5. Lexington Fire Department (LFD). This agency, on call twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, holds to a standard of responding to the needs of everyone who calls. Obviously, they respond immediately to calls about fires but they also send their Emergency Medical Service officers to carry the sick to hospitals. Incases that are not health emergencies, LFD makes referrals to state as well as town agencies. LFD recognizes itself to be a point of first contact. They deal with people who need to talk, who are seriously lonely, and the maltreated, among others. The Chief estimates LFD makes about five to ten referrals to other agencies each month. Their confidential fax lines are open all of the time in order to make referrals to the local Department of Social Services and to other local and state agencies. And, on request from other agencies, they act to bring ire safety advice and guidance to targeted persons and households. 6. Lexington Board of Health (BH). While the mission of this agency is broad, its interactions with residents are concentrated very heavily on listening to the needs of senior citizens. Most of the time, BH staff work on referring seniors to the Department of Social Services lodged in the Senior Center. Calls about housing needs are the most frequent by far.