Tag Archives: affirmatively furthering fair housing

VT Statewide Housing Conference is back!

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“What YOU can do to solve the housing crisis” -> Session proposals due June 30

Guest blog post by Leslie Black-Plumeau, Vermont Housing Finance Agency
 

Housing conference logoOn behalf of the Vermont Statewide Housing Conference Planning Committee, VHFA is seeking proposals for sessions at the 2022 Statewide Housing Conference, to be held on Wednesday, Nov. 16 in Burlington.  For decades, this biennial conference has brought together practitioners, community members and policy leaders to nurture connection and innovation. 

This year’s conference theme is “What YOU can do to solve the housing crisis.” The conference planning committee is inviting the housing community to submit proposals for sessions at the conference that speak to this theme. If you have an idea for a session you would like to facilitate at this year’s conference, please submit a brief description of the session and answer a few questions about it by completing the short web-based form.  

Conference organizers hope to offer a wide range of session formats, including non-traditional approaches that make build off of the conference’s in-person nature and make creative use of technology and other mediums to engage attendees. Here are a few session topic examples:  

  • Voices of Vermonters with lived experiences that reflect the diversity of our state 
  • Ways to combat the housing crisis through direct local levers and partnerships  
  • Systems for turning ideas and inspiration into personal action 
  • Impact on affordability and CO2 emissions of municipal housing development requirements  

Proposals will be accepted through June 30, 2022. Please direct any questions to conference@vhfa.org. 

Burlington City Hall Fair Housing Exhibit – Celebrate Inclusive Communities and the Importance of Home

April Fair Housing Month, COVID, Event, fair housing, fair housing fridays, Housing Inequality, Place matters, Vermont, , , , ,

Housing is a basic human right and everyone deserves equitable access to safe, accessible, and stable homes, free from discrimination. Having enough quality, affordable, and inclusive homes helps build vibrant communities, and promotes economic growth and opportunity for all. In the face of the ongoing housing crisis in Vermont, where there simply aren’t enough homes for people of all income levels – especially those of lower income and the most vulnerable in our communities – and as we emerge from the covid-19 pandemic, housing justice is of paramount importance.

This week’s Fair Housing Month event- overview:

  • Thursday April 14th 12pm-1pm – Landlord Management Series: Fair Housing :Join Angela Zaikowski of Vermont Landlords Association, Cole Elwood of Strong Will Real Estate /Keller Williams Vermont, and Jess Hyman of the CVOEO Fair Housing Project as they cover fair housing in Vermont
  • Thursday April 14th 6-8pm – SEABA Virtual ‘Affordable Housing Roundtable’ : A roundtable for Burlington’s South End artists and businesses to better understand recent housing policy reforms and engage on innovative solutions to help tackle the affordable housing challenge in Burlington’s South End.
  • Friday April 15th 12:30pm Fair Housing Friday Why Aren’t We Building the Housing We Need?  Featuring Katherine “Deac” Decarreau, ED Winooski Housing Authority, Nate Besio, Peer Advocate Counselor Coordinator VCIL, Carol Jaramillo. Community Builder Northgate Resident Owned Corp, in this webinar we will hear about the barriers to housing development, what kind of housing we are building, and why (or why not) the housing we are developing meets the needs of our most vulnerable community members.

Visit the City Hall Gallery at 149 Church Street in Burlington to  check out CVOEO’s Fair Housing Project Fair Housing Month exhibit!  

April marks the anniversary of the 1968 passage of the Fair Housing Act, which was intended to put an end to inequities in our housing system, eliminate racial segregation, and guarantee that everyone has the right to obtain a home of their choice, free from discrimination. Visit the City Hall Gallery at 149 Church Street in Burlington to learn more about the history of the Fair Housing Act, your rights and responsibilities under Federal and Vermont law, and how Fair Housing is connected to the challenges and opportunities of Vermont’s current housing landscape. These newly designed panels  feature our updated protected classes iconography, ways to become an advocate, and a brief history of Fair Housing

For those of you who cannot make it, you can view our PDFs below!

This exhibit was created by the Fair Housing Project of CVOEO with illustrations by Corrine Yonce.

Special thanks to Burlington City Arts & Vantage Press.

WORKING TOWARD ACCESS FOR ALL – Fifty Years of the Fair Housing Act: a Vermont Perspective

affirmatively furthering fair housing, affordable housing, housing development, inclusionary zoning, Inclusive Communities, Montpelier, Municipal and Regional Planning, Vermont, zoning regulations,

FHP organized event in front of Burlington, VT City Hall Continue reading WORKING TOWARD ACCESS FOR ALL – Fifty Years of the Fair Housing Act: a Vermont Perspective →

April 2018, The 50 Year Anniversary of the 1968 Federal Fair Housing Act

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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″]

“An Economic Fair Housing Act” An Excellent Article by, Richard D. Kahlenberg

affirmatively furthering fair housing, affordable housing, inclusionary zoning, Inclusive Communities

The Thriving Communities campaign highly recommends to our blog readers the very good article by Richard D. Kahlenberg, which was featured in the latest edition of “Poverty & Race”newsletter (July – September, 2017, Volume 26: Number 3);  published by the Poverty & Race Research Action Council.

“An Economic Fair Housing Act” PRRAC Poverty & Race Newsletter, July-September 2017 

Kay Campbell / kcampbell@al.com

We encourage you to read this if you are interested in  affirmatively furthering fair housing, decreasing geographic segregation by race and poverty, and increasing many opportunities for people now trapped in low opportunity neighborhoods in our nation.

“… worsening housing segregation by class is extremely troubling, because it affects the lives of Americans in profound ways. Where people live affects so much else in their lives— access to transportation, employment opportunities, access to decent health care, and, perhaps most important, access to good schools. …”

 

Borrowed from “SHELTERFORCE” -10 Ways to Talk About Inclusionary Housing, Differently

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Shelterforce blog by Sasha Hauswald – September 20, 2017

…  Number 4 is one of my favorite. (Thriving Communities Editor)

” 4.  Streamline barriers to development

Many jurisdictions have zoning code requirements that are so complex that it is nearly impossible to build anything without lengthy and unpredictable approval processes for special exceptions to the zoning code. Inclusionary done right can greatly reduce procedural barriers to new development.

Affordable housing requirements are often adopted in combination with area-wide up-zoning or enhanced flexibility to build, by right, a reasonably profitable multifamily building. In these cases, inclusionary housing programs can actually increase development activity. Most importantly, inclusionary housing policies establish clear and predictable expectations that local developers can plan around. “

“Changes to Tax Credit Criteria Breaking Up Concentrated Poverty in New Jersey”

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Important steps for affirmatively furthering fair housing – good work by the New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency (NJHMFA)
“These Changes to Tax Credit Criteria Are Breaking Up Concentrated Poverty” [a New Jersey example]

Posted by Tim Evans in Rooflines, The Shelterforce blog, June 13, 2017 edition. This excerpt copied with permission of the National Housing Institute

While recent news reports have highlighted the low number of affordable housing projects using federal tax credits that are built in high-opportunity areas, a recent examination by New Jersey Future has found that strategic changes in the way federal funds are allocated for affordable housing in the state have meant that many more affordable housing projects have been directed away from high-poverty neighborhoods and toward areas that offer greater economic opportunity.

To evaluate whether those changes had their intended effect, New Jersey Future compared affordable housing projects that received federal Low Income Housing Tax Credits between 2005 and 2012 with projects that received credits between 2013 and 2015, after the New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency (NJHMFA), which administers the tax credits in the state, made significant changes to the criteria it uses to award them. The agency made the changes with the specific goal of steering new construction of affordable housing away from areas of concentrated poverty and toward areas where public transit and major job centers existed, and that have higher-performing school districts.

Before the adjustment, a full two-thirds of projects near transit were located in . . .

Read More

Fighting Community Opposition in the Age of…Opposition

affirmatively furthering fair housing, affordable housing, civil rights, fair housing, finance and race, home ownership, housing development, inclusionary zoning, redlining, Uncategorized, ,

From the “Shelterforce Blog”, “Rooflines”

Posted in Shelterforce by Amy Clark on December 14, 2016

http://www.rooflines.org/4710/fighting_community_opposition_in_the_age_ofopposition/ via  @Shelterforce

On Nov, 8, voters across the country heard the affordable housing call and approved numerous state and local housing funding measures that will make it possible for more of our neighbors to live in safe, healthy, and affordable homes. This was a real achievement in housing advocacy, but the work is far from over. Developers, local governments, and advocates must now move to convince the neighbors of proposed housing developments to accept more affordable homes into their communities.

The election that brought over 37 affordable housing measures to the ballot in eight states also elevated toxic rhetoric about people of color and other populations. The public discourse has changed, and that’s likely to affect our efforts to build support for affordable housing development and counter community opposition. Here’s what you may hear about affordable housing in your community, and how to prepare for it:

Racial animus. In the wake of the election, there have been many reports of hate-based harassment and intimidation across the country. An offending segment of our population feels newly empowered to use racist language in all types of situations. While racism and fear of difference have always been, at the very least, an undercurrent of some forms of community opposition, in recent years it’s largely been implied, not overt. You may see an uptick in overt racism in siting conversations.

What to do? While it would be satisfying—and, arguably, right—to call out racist language directly when you hear it, research tells us that this is likely to backfire, causing the speaker to defensively double-down on the prejudiced belief. Instead, a study this year found that “a short conversation encouraging actively taking the perspective of others can markedly reduce prejudice.” It argues for holding small-group conversations and facilitators trained to listen and find common ground.

Misinformation. You’ve likely heard much about the success of fake news during the presidential campaign. Misinformation this election cycle may have had a distinctive rightward bent, but don’t pat yourself on the back if you lean left. All of us are susceptible to information that confirms what we already believe, regardless of its factual accuracy. Don’t be surprised to see an increase in the misinformation about your work being posted online and handed around in anonymous flyers around the neighborhoods where you work.

What to do? Don’t write up a “frequently asked questions” page correcting the lies being told about your work. By emphasizing the misinformation—even when you later correct it—you’re just driving it deeper into peoples’ consciousness. Instead, first tell your truth (“Our apartments increase neighborhood safety.”), then signpost the misinformation and explain the motive behind it (“There is a myth circulating that affordable housing increases crime, promoted by a small new neighborhood group formed to fight our proposal.”), and finally give a brief, clear alternative explanation, repeated in graphics if possible (“In fact, by starting a neighborhood watch program and installing security cameras, we’ve helped create a 13 percent decrease in property crime in another neighborhood where we work. We want to work with you to have a similar positive impact here.”).

Ideological conflict. Research into persistent opposition to affordable housing has shown that spatial ideology—an individual’s set of beliefs around who can live in and use a particular place, and who has the right to participate in decision-making about a place—can be predictive of opposition to, or support of, affordable housing. The recent push to disenfranchise groups of Americans through voter ID laws and other restrictions is an example of a narrow conception of spatial rights, and the electoral contest was rife with rhetoric supporting a conscribed idea of to whom America truly belongs. Opposition may now more frequently focus on delegitimizing prospective low-income residents, perhaps as “not American” or simply “not from here.”

What to do? Unfortunately, ideology might be hard-wired, and thus addressing spatial ideology head-on might not be effective. At the same time, there are likely to be people in your community who believe lower-income people have an equal right to live in a place. Find these potential supporters by emphasizing the values of diversity and inclusion, and give this group a clear way to take action and vocalize support of your work.

Distrust of institutional authority. The success of populist presidential candidates from both parties points to, among other things, Americans’ growing distrust of institutions. Whether it’s in banks, the news media, or government itself, people across the political spectrum have lost faith. Unfortunately, affordable housing development connects to all sorts of things many of our neighbors have come to doubt: taxation, finance systems and entities, and zoning, just to name a few.

What to do? First, people who have lost trust will hear a developer mention “partnering with the government” and translate that into an attempt to paper over a profit-making arrangement. Step away from the marketing talk and use plain language to explain what you do, and why it is successful. Second, reframe the role of these perceived-suspect institutions. A new paper from Enterprise Community Partners and the FrameWorks Institute recommends that we help people understand the role of government in affordable housing by explaining, “the role of systems in shaping outcomes for people and … communities,” and by, “zooming out” to tell broader stories that explain the impact of housing issues on an entire community. You know your work is about more than simply units; help others understand this too.

Countering community opposition has never been easy, and I hope to hear that these predictions have not come true, but even if they do, our work can have a long-term impact on decreasing bias. There is evidence that white people living in diverse neighborhoods “endorsed fewer negative stereotypes, and [feel] closer to Blacks as a group.” When we create diverse, inclusive communities, we help decrease prejudice and division. That’s something truly worth fighting for.