Category Archives: Burlington
Voices of Home Returns to Cambrian Rise
Fair Housing Friday: Just Cause Eviction & Why It is Important for Housing Equity Feb 26
Join us for a lunchtime conversation on Just Cause Eviction on Friday, Feb. 26 – 12:30-1:30pm.
Panelists include Brian Pine, speaking on behalf of the Just Cause Coalition, Michael Monte from Champlain Housing Trust, Bor Yang from the Vermont Human Rights Commission, and Christie Delphia from the Burlington Tenants Union.
This conversation will highlight the ways language similar to Just Cause is already being used by nonprofit housers across Vermont, why evictions should be avoided & when they are actually necessary, and how Just Cause can combat housing discrimination. This lunchtime conversation will be recorded and have time at the end for a Q & A session.
Register using this link: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZIvd-2hrDovG90HXUx0PDe1zXZYj6e7HHnI
And you can share our facebook event here:
http://https://www.facebook.com/events/451236372739293
Regarding the Just Cause Opposition’s recent disinformation campaign:
On Monday Morning of February 22nd, leaders from Rights & Democracy VT, Vermont Affordable Housing Coalition, The Black Perspective, Burlington City Council, Burlington Tenants Union, Burlington VT Democrats Vermont, state representative Kesha Ram -among others- came forward to address a recent disinformation campaign lead by the opposition to Just Cause. Leaders condemn the red lawn signs designed to scare tenants, spread baseless statements and co-op racial equity language.
And here is the Vermont Affordable Housing Coalitions response to this recent smear campaign: https://www.vtaffordablehousing.org/2021/02/19/the-vermont-affordable-housing-coalition-fully-supports-the-burlington-just-cause-charter-change-proposal/
The Enduring Legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr
While Martin Luther King Day is relegated to one day each year, it is important to remember that the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s lives on, his advocacy and preaching never loosing relevance in our day-to-day. Throughout our Vermont communities, folks came together to reflect and celebrate the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s commitment to justice.
The Fair Housing Project’s partner, the Old North End Arts Center, celebrated Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s legacy with their Better World Camp. The ONE Art Center invited kids to explore kindness through art projects, focusing on fun and the different ways the children can express themselves. They spent MLK Day by making art projects in a variety of media, practicing drama, storytelling, dancing, playing organized games, asking kids to think about What is service to others?
The pandemic has put unprecedented stress on our communities, our families, our coworkers, our neighbors. But as we move into the safety of the zoom cyber space, collaboration has become second nature. Organizations have the flexibility to not only cohost conversation across sectors, but even for connections to be built across state lines. The City of Burlington hosted this thought-provoking panel on Reparations and Reconciliation, inviting not just local city officials and scholars, but representatives from other cities experiencing their own Reparations and Reconciliation discussions and legislative actions.
Following the themes advocates and leaders raised in this conversation, in this VT Digger article, Rohan and his brothers, Aaron and Justin Providence, share a vulnerable conversation about their experiences growing up Black in Vermont with a level of candidness new even to their own family.
“You have to take a step back and just listen,” Rohan tells VT Digger, echoing a sentiment not only shared in the city hosted panel on Reparation and Reconciliation, but an echo of Black voices since the beginning of the racial justice movement. With vulnerable honesty, this family shares their story to illustrate what must be done all across Vermont: frank conversations about race and racism in our communities.
That “raw truth” is core to this powerful commentary from Kesha Ram (D-Chittenden), Vermont’s first woman of color to serve in the state Senate. State Senator Ram points to the glaring racial disparities in COVID-19 rates, policing, and homeownership as the true causes of Vermont’s prevalent & persistent whiteness. Ram corrects the popular and comfortable opinion that Vermont’s lack of racial diversity can be solved merely through more rigorous recruitment, adding critical insight to an urgent equity issue in our state.
You can find the rest of Burlington’s recorded MLK Day events, including a story walk organized by Fletcher Free Library that you can still participate in on your own, here.
Housing Equity & Preservation of Open Space
updated, 12/29/20
At the Fair Housing Project, we generally applaud community members who organize to get their needs better met. But this featured article in the Other Paper as part of the Vermont Community News Network begs a counter response. Continue reading Housing Equity & Preservation of Open Space
Building Homes Together Campaign Releases Progress Report
Chittenden County has a critical shortage of housing, particularly housing that is affordable to those earning below the Area Median Income. This housing shortage puts a greater burden on marginalized communities by allowing landlords to be more selective in how they rent to tenants and allowing for more discrimination. This recent VPR investigation digs deeper into some of the ways housing segregation continues to persist in communities across New England – including Vermont- and how that impacts the lives of those affected.
The “Building Homes Together” campaign was started in 2016 to encourage the production of more housing. Its annual report shows that market-rate housing production has been steady for the past four years, but Chittenden County has repeatedly failed to meet the campaign’s target for new permanently affordable homes, leaving a gap for those who are already struggling to make ends meet and those who have been impacted by the economic hardships of the coronavirus crisis.
The campaign, supported by over a hundred local and state officials, nonprofits, businesses, and individuals, set a five year goal of 3,500 new homes in Chittenden County with 20% of them permanently affordable. This amounts to an annual target of 700 overall homes with 140 affordable; the average over the first four years is 787 homes, but of those homes only 112 were affordable.
“We did see a spike in 2019 of new affordable homes with 169 built, but that followed three years of missing our target,” said Nancy Owens, co-President of Evernorth. “The increase in 2019 demonstrates that new capital from the Housing for All Revenue Bond passed in the State of Vermont in 2017 was essential to meet this critical housing need, but it hasn’t been enough.”
Other economic, social and public health factors are in play. “While 2020 has been consumed by the coronavirus and calls for racial justice, it’s also been a year where safe, decent and affordable housing has been even more obviously lacking in our communities. We need to do better,” said Brenda Torpy, CEO of the Champlain Housing Trust, noting that at one point this summer there were 2,000 homeless Vermonters living in hotels and motels
Champlain Housing Trust, Chittenden County Regional Planning Commission and Evernorth (formerly Housing Vermont) are jointly calling for local, state and federal policymakers to fund affordable housing and make housing a priority in responding to the economic, racial and health injustices of our current time.
More information about the “Building Home Together Campaign” can be found at http://www.ecosproject.com/building-homes-together/.
Burlington Inclusionary Zoning Working Group Accepting Comments Until June 18
April 2018, The 50 Year Anniversary of the 1968 Federal Fair Housing Act
VT Governor Phil Scott’s Proclamation of April as Fair Housing Month and marking the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Federal Fair Housing Act.
[pdf-embedder url=”https://www.thrivingcommunitiesvt.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Gobernatorial_FH-Proclamation_2018.pdf” title=”Gobernatorial_FH Proclamation_2018″]
Burlington Mayoral Proclamation of April, 2018 as Fair Housing Month in Burlington, VT and Burlington celebrates April, 2018 as the 50th Anniversary of the Federal Fair Housing Act.
[pdf-embedder url=”https://www.thrivingcommunitiesvt.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/BurlingtonMayor_FH-Proclamation_2018.pdf” title=”BurlingtonMayor_FH Proclamation_2018″]
Easing Burlington’s Housing Shortage, Opinion by Erhard Mahnke
(This piece first appeared on the Burlington Free Press opinion page on September 20, 2017)
Safe, stable and affordable housing is essential for a community to thrive economically, socially and culturally. Vermont continues to struggle with housing affordability, and unfortunately the state’s largest city of Burlington is no exception.
A Burlington resident needs to earn over $26 an hour to afford the fair market rent for a two bedroom apartment – that’s more than $5 per hour above the national average.
This is troubling and we hear about the ramifications from families and seniors who can’t find places to live, from young people who are choosing to leave the state for more affordable areas, from agencies serving the homeless, and from our employers who struggle to find qualified employees due to the high cost of housing.
There are several components to addressing the issue of affordable housing, and one of the most critical is the need for capital investment to build new housing and to renovate existing properties. While many additional homes have been built over the past several years, many more are needed to accommodate the growth of 2,375 new households projected for Chittenden County by 2020. Current production is being absorbed into the market quickly, and the long-term vacancy rate for rentals still hovers between 1 and 2 percent, putting supply and demand out of whack.
Not surprisingly, according to Census data, over half of Chittenden County renters are “cost-burdened,” meaning they pay too much of their income for housing, leaving them without enough for other basic necessities.
In terms of affordable housing, last month the Champlain Housing Trust had just five vacancies among their 2,000 plus apartments, and only one vacancy in Chittenden County. Cathedral Square Corp. had over 800 seniors and people with special needs on its waiting list looking to move into affordable housing.
Furthermore, the effective vacancy rate for subsidized rentals in Chittenden County was literally 0 percent for all bedroom sizes. These shocking numbers help explain why the Burlington Housing Authority typically measures their waiting list in years rather than weeks or even months.
These numbers are astonishing, but the good news is that there are clear steps we can take to address the cost of housing. No one project will be the panacea for Burlington’s affordable housing crisis, but developments like the proposed Cambrian Rise project in Burlington’s North End can significantly improve housing options for residents and relieve the pressure on a strained system.
As proposed, Cambrian Rise will be a 739-apartment mixed-income housing neighborhood with an impressive number of affordable homes. The neighborhood will offer Burlington residents housing options for all income levels.
Under Burlington’s inclusionary zoning ordinance, the development will include 128 affordable rentals for families and seniors with household incomes of less than 65 percent of the Chittenden County median income. In English that translates into housing that is affordable for a one-person household making $37,500, or $53,600 for a family of four.
However, with federal, state and local dollars available to Champlain Housing Trust and Cathedral Square, which are partnering to help create Cambrian Rise, many apartments will be even more affordable.
Furthermore, another 60 homes will be affordable to homebuyers earning below 75 to 80 percent of median income, or below at most $46,150 for a single individual and $65,900 for a family of four. In all, the development will offer 188 permanently affordable homes to low income Vermonters. In addition, Cambrian Rise will offer “workforce housing” for sale and rent targeted to more moderate income people up to 120 percent of the median income. Our working families, our seniors and people with disabilities, and our employers desperately need these new homes.
Cambrian Rise not only offers a diverse neighborhood, it is also a model for sustainable development. The project features alternative transportation options, energy efficiency, a state of the art stormwater system to protect the lake, and a conserved 12-acre public park – giving us continuous public access to Lake Champlain from Perkins Pier to North Beach.
Convenient access to the bike path, car share opportunities and a heated bus terminal for year-round use will ease the financial burden for residents of the neighborhood. This mixed-use development is a model for the future, where diverse residents of all income levels, abilities and ages can live, work and play in one neighborhood.
Erhard Mahnke, of Burlington, is coordinator for the Vermont Affordable Housing Coalition. The Vermont Affordable Housing Coalition is a partner organization in the Thriving Communities- Building a Vibrant Inclusive Vermont campaign.
Coalition Launched to Increase Housing in Chittenden County VT
South Burlington, VT – Dozens of Chittenden County leaders in the fields of housing, business, local and state government, and social services announced this morning a new campaign to increase the production of housing and setting a target of 3,500 new homes created in the next five years.
The new coalition, called Building Homes Together, was formed by the Champlain Housing Trust, Chittenden County Regional Planning Commission and Housing Vermont and released an initial list of nearly 100 community leaders supporting the effort.
“Working together we will accomplish this goal,” said Brenda Torpy, CEO of Champlain Housing Trust. “For the sake of our communities, our workers and local economy, we will educate and advocate together for more housing.”
“The housing shortage in Chittenden County has been well noted with unhealthy vacancy rates and high rents,” added Charlie Baker, Executive Director of the Chittenden County Regional Planning Commission. “Employers can’t find workers, and workers themselves spend more time in commutes and with a higher percentage of their paychecks on housing costs.”
Twenty percent of the 3,500 goal are targeted to be developed by nonprofit housing organizations. The remainder by private developers.
“This step-up in production will not just provide new homes and infrastructure for communities, it’ll be a boost to the economy and contribute to the tax base. Building homes together is a big win for all of us in Chittenden County,” said Nancy Owens, President of Housing Vermont.
The campaign will provide up-to-date data to the community on the need for and benefits of new housing, build cross-sector and public support for housing development, increasing access to capital, and supporting municipalities.
Individuals, businesses or organizations that wish to sign on and participate in the campaign are encouraged to by sending an email to Chris Donnelly at Champlain Housing Trust (chris@champlainhousingtrust.org). For more information, visit www.getahome.org/news/building-homes-together