Housing nonprofits describe pipeline, urge full VHCB statutory funding

Elizabeth Bridgewater, executive director of the Windham & Windsor Housing Trust, and housing nonprofit leaders from northern and rural Vermont told the Senate Committee on Institutions on Feb. 14 that grants from the Vermont Housing and Conservation Board are vital for affordable-housing projects across the state and asked the committee to support the governor’s recommended statutory VHCB appropriation of $36,900,000.

Bridgewater outlined the Windham & Windsor Housing Trust’s portfolio and pipeline and said VHCB funds both new construction and rehabilitation that local organizations could not accomplish on their own. She said the trust owns and stewards 887 affordable apartments, 42 mobile-home lots, 16 commercial units and 45 shared-equity homes; recent projects created hundreds of units statewide since 2020, and the trust’s pipeline includes projects in which substantial shares of units remain unfunded.

Bridgewater described specific projects to illustrate how VHCB funds are used: Central and Main in Windsor Village, a brownfield redevelopment, will deliver roughly 25 homes and required an under-building parking solution that increased costs by about $2 million; the project nonetheless leveraged additional funds unlocked because of VHCB participation. She also described the Dalam Chalet (West Brattleboro) redevelopment: the first built phase includes 31 new apartments, with 15 apartments set aside for people exiting homelessness and on-site services provided by partner Groundworks Collaborative; the plan also includes modular shared-equity homes and later phases of townhouses and additional apartments.

Bridgewater said VHCB funding covered about 29% of the Dalam Chalet project budget while private equity accounted for roughly 50%, demonstrating VHCB’s ability to leverage other funding sources. She requested the committee support full statutory funding and urged consideration of additional housing funding beyond the governor’s recommendation.

Patrick Shattuck, who identified himself as executive director of a Northeast Kingdom housing organization, described RuralEdge’s (Northeast Kingdom nonprofit) work and said VHCB-backed projects vary from small rural duplexes to larger multifamily projects. Shattuck described projects including a 23-unit redevelopment in West Burke and a Newport-area redevelopment that includes brownfield remediation; he told the committee that some sites require expensive environmental testing and abatement (the testimony cited about $150,000 for site testing and about $1 million for asbestos abatement on a multi-building campus). He said some projects set aside units specifically for people exiting homelessness and stressed the local economic impact of construction and ongoing property stewardship.

Speakers repeatedly tied VHCB participation to projects that “private enterprise couldn’t touch,” saying grant support makes complex brownfield and historic-site projects feasible and helps create in-town housing options near services and transit. Bridgewater noted the Dalam Chalet site will include three bus stops on campus to improve accessibility and that project design balances cost-control and visual design to fit community context.

No committee vote was taken during the presentation portion of the hearing. Speakers asked legislators to uphold the governor’s full statutory VHCB appropriation of $36,900,000 and to consider additional housing funding to respond to unmet pipeline needs.