VHCB Awards $9.3 Million to Construct and Rehabilitate Housing in Brattleboro, South Burlington, Randolph, and Hartford, and to Conserve Land in Orange and Chittenden Counties
On Flat Street in downtown Brattleboro, the Windham & Windsor Housing Trust will construct a new building with 23 energy efficient apartments near services and transportation. VHCB awarded $1.495 million in Housing Revenue Bond funds and $490,000 in federal HOME Program funds. The $6.8 million development will feature a community room, office space for service providers, storage, laundry, and a small commercial space. Residents at a range of incomes from 50-120% of median income will occupy the building.
The Champlain Housing Trust and Housing Vermont are working with Snyder Braverman Development Company to construct 60 mixed-income, family rental apartments in a new building close to schools, a library, a park, and trails in South Burlington’s new city center. VHCB awarded $3.9 million in Housing Revenue Bond funds and $495,000 in federal HOME funds for the $16 million development. Construction is expected to begin in 2018 and to be completed in 2019.
In Hartford, the Twin Pines Housing Trust and Housing Vermont are developing 30 family rental apartments in an area targeted for growth on the public transportation route, convenient to services, jobs, recreational and educational opportunities. A commitment of $1.4 million in Housing Revenue Bond funds is in addition to prior VHCB funding commitments totaling $1.18 million to the first phase of the $9.4 million development.
Using $400,000 in VHCB funding and $465,000 in federal HOME Program funds, the Addison County Community Trust and Housing Vermont will rehabilitate and refinance Pleasant Hills, a housing development in Bristol with 16 apartments serving older adults and disabled individuals. Rehabilitation will include new roofing, windows, siding, heating system and insulation. Accessibility and site improvements, along with upgrades to kitchens, baths, and appliances, are also planned. Pleasant Hills is the only affordable senior housing in Bristol, with rental assistance for every household making the apartments affordable to very low-income individuals.
The Armstrong Mobile Home Park in Randolph, owned by the Randolph Area Community Development Corporation, will address repairs to the water supply system and replace the wastewater system with a VHCB award of $75,000 plus other funding. RACDC purchased the park in 2015 and since that time, the organization has rehabilitated a two-unit rental property on the site, which has 16 mobile home lots.
With $300,000 in VHCB funding, Downstreet Housing & Community Development and Housing Vermont will acquire, rehab and resell four homes in Central Vermont that are in need of repair and energy efficiency upgrades. This program will create four quality, energy efficient homeownership opportunities that will be permanently affordable.
VHCB awarded $478,000 in federal funding from the Natural Resources Conservation Service and $130,000 in VHCB funds to the Vermont Land Trust for two projects in Orange County. One project will conserve 150 acres of farmland and the other will facilitate an Option to Purchase at Agricultural Value on a previously conserved farm; this provision helps to keep farmland in the hands of farmers.
The Vermont River Conservancy will use $31,500 in VHCB funds, $10,000 from the Town Conservation Fund, $5,000 in foundation funds, and $6,000 in local fundraising to conserve three acres at the Huntington Gorge in Richmond and transfer the property to the Richmond Land Trust. With 2,050 feet of river frontage, the property features dramatic curves, bowls, and cascades carved by the river over geologic time. One-half mile downstream is the Lower Huntington Gorge preserve, a VHCB-funded project owned and managed by the Richmond Land Trust, a popular swimming destination.
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Since 1987, VHCB has supported the preservation and development of affordable housing and the conservation of agricultural and recreational land, forest land, natural areas, and the restoration of historic public properties, leveraging more than $1.5 billion in federal and private funds.