MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) – City officials are being asked to approve plans to open halfway homes for federal prisoners, but so far the reception has been lukewarm.

Two nonprofit groups have petitioned the city for a variance that would allow them to operate homes where felons from New Hampshire could stay to serve out the ends of their sentences.

Federal law enforcement officials in New Hampshire support the idea, saying there is no federal halfway house in the state. They say one is needed to help New Hampshire residents transition out of prison life.

Existing homes in Maine and Massachusetts “do not fully meet the needs of New Hampshire defendants transitioning from prison to freedom,” Thomas Colantuono, the state’s U.S. Attorney, said in a letter to the federal Bureau of Prisons.

But city officials have opposed the idea. Mayor Robert Baines said the plans lack community support.

AP-ES-12-06-04 1035EST