A sampling of housing news and opinion from around Vermont and beyond

Preservation Trust of Vermont Awards

The Preservation Trust of Vermont recognized 10 people and projects with awards at the Preservation and Downtown Conference in Bristol this month. Awardees include:

• 

  Lamoille Housing Partnership for its efforts to turn a closed department store building into a mixed use space with first floor commercial space and upper floor residential apartments and businesses. The final project addresses the dual need for affordable housing and a vibrant community center. The 18 apartments are rented by low to moderate income Vermonters, including some who have been previously homeless. Black Cap Coffee and Pizza On Main occupy the two commercial spaces and provide jobs to two dozen local workers.

• The Committee on Temporary Shelter (COTS) for its redesign and expansion of the Colodny building, former home to Vermont’s first supermarket and later, Burlington College, to house a new Day Station, offices, programs that had previously been scattered around the Burlington area, and 14 permanent affordable housing units.
• Bristol Village Cohousing for transforming three deteriorating 19^th century homes into 14 units of housing, plus five small cottages on the rear of the property and a new triplex. This “community within a community” enhances Bristol’s historic character by creating density downtown, preserving and restoring a late 19th century streetscape, and showcasing modern strategies for energy efficiency.

Learn about all 10 awardees here: http://ptvermont.org/cat/what/awards/awards-2018/

St. Johnsbury to Invest Nearly $1m in Housing Project

Officials in St. Johnsbury have decided to use nearly $1 million in state housing funds toward the purchase an apartment complex for the Depot Square housing project. The town will use about $989,000 in state funds to help Burlington-based nonprofit Housing Vermont purchase the property. Officials hope the apartment complex will help spur a larger revitalization project for the downtown area. Learn more here: http://www.wcax.com/content/news/St-Johnsbury-to-invest-nearly-1M-in-housing-project-486579731.html

Utah developer Scraps Plans for 5,000-acre Sustainable Community in Windsor County

The Utah engineer who bought roughly 1,500 acres near the Church of Mormon founder’s Joseph Smith birthplace has abandoned his vision for the NewVistas community. His plans for the high-density community would have ultimately housed 20,000 people. His actions were prompted by the National Trust for Historic Preservation decision to place the towns of Royalton, Sharon, Strafford, and Tunbridge on its “watch status.” A majority of voters in the four towns registered their opposition to NewVistas in a Town Meeting vote last year.  Read more here: https://vtdigger.org/2018/06/27/newvistas-developer-says-hes-abandoning-project-selling-property-in-vermon/ and here: https://www.citylab.com/design/2018/06/danger-mormon-utopia-approaching/563735/

Housing vs. Open Space

One of the challenges of adding housing in developed areas is the conflict that often arises between infill development and preserving open space. In the Little Italy neighborhood of Manhattan, a city project to add affordable housing for seniors is slated to replace the Elizabeth Street Garden, a community sculpture garden that provides a space for people to grow food, gather, and engage in educational programming.

In an opinion piece by Karen Haycox, CEO of Habitat for Humanity New York City, and Scott Short, CEO of RiseBoro Community Partnership, in City Limits, a New York City independent online news source, the authors argue that both affordable housing and open public space are essential to the health and vitality of communities. “We believe that the choice between affordable housing and open space is a false dichotomy, that they are in fact complementary components of thriving communities, and that we can and must have both at the same time,” wrote Haycox and Short, who are partners in the development project. Haven Green will include a greenspace that is open to the public.

New York City has approximately 200,000 seniors on waitlists for affordable housing. Meanwhile the garden serves tens of thousands of people through events, activities, and visits. Garden organizers are fighting the development plans and urging the city to consider other sites for the housing. Learn more here: https://www.elizabethstreetgarden.com/

Read the Haycox and Short article here: https://citylimits.org/2018/06/21/cityviews-lets-stop-the-zero-sum-debate-pitting-open-space-vs-affordable-housing/

Judge allows California city to continue fair housing suit against Wells Fargo

The city of Oakland had alleged that it lost substantial amounts of property tax revenues and had to spend millions of dollars to maintain foreclosed properties as result of Wells Fargo’s discriminatory lending practices. Targeted at black and Hispanic borrowers, the practices resulted in a wave of foreclosures, the city claimed. Wells Fargo had sought to dismiss the claim, but the US District Court has allowed the suit to continue. Read more here: https://www.mpamag.com/news/judge-allows-california-city-to-continue-fair-housing-suit-against-wells-fargo-103859.aspx

Meanwhile, the Wells Fargo company recently announced more than 50 grants awarded to nonprofits across the U.S. to promote housing equality for low- to middle-income households in recognition of the 50th anniversary of the Fair Housing Act. Read more here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180620006228/en/Wells-Fargo-Program-Supports-Fair-Housing-Effort

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