Windham & Windsor Housing Trust urges state funding, appeals reform as homelessness rises

Elizabeth Bridgewater, executive director of the Windham & Windsor Housing Trust, briefed the House General & Housing Committee on local housing trends on Jan. 23, 2025, saying the region needs both capital and human services to respond to rising homelessness and substance-use impacts.

Bridgewater told the committee the trust’s portfolio and recent development pipeline illustrate both capacity and strain: about 900 permanently affordable apartments across Windham and Windsor counties, 113 new units in the pipeline (25 expected this summer), three owned mobile-home parks with 42 lots, and 145 shared-equity homes. She also said the trust has helped educate about 650 homebuyers in the last five years, provided counseling for roughly 1,200 people and supported 229 new homebuyers.

Bridgewater said Windham County shows an outsized rise in people experiencing homelessness compared with other Vermont counties. She said the trust’s internal strategic planning and point-in-time counts show an increase in the unhoused population since 2020 and warned the county has been “impacted over the last 5 years” more sharply than many other counties. She linked that trend to service gaps after the pandemic and to changes in the illicit drug supply: "it really amplified," she said, referring to fentanyl’s rise in the drug supply.

Why it matters: Bridgewater said rising homelessness, increased demand for shelter and concentrated community impacts are creating operational and financial strain for housing providers and local services. She gave a site-specific example: 9 Canal in downtown Brattleboro, a 25-unit building above the Brattleboro Food Co-op, has experienced repeated break-ins and property damage since emergency motel placements ended, she said, disrupting residents and increasing costs for property owners.

Bridgewater presented four legislative priority categories: capital investment, human services, regulatory reform and continuation of the landlord-relief program. On capital, she urged “full statutory funding for VHCB, which is about $35,000,000 this year,” to support permanently affordable rental and ownership housing. For human services she asked lawmakers to maintain and expand transitional and recovery housing and to fund staffing for supportive services, citing the SASH (Support and Services at Home) For All pilot in Brattleboro; she identified a $2,400,000 request to open 12 additional SASH panels to serve about 1,200 people statewide.

On regulatory reform Bridgewater described a three-year appeals delay on a Putney project (the Alice Hallway Drive project) that she said increased project costs by roughly $4,000,000 and included appeals to the Environmental Division and the Vermont Supreme Court. She said the delays illustrate the need to reexamine appeal processes and pointed to New Hampshire’s housing-court model as an example worth studying.

Bridgewater also described the landlord-relief program administered by the Vermont State Housing Authority. She said the program provides up to $10,000 to cover back rent and some tenant-related damages in exchange for the property owner’s agreement not to pursue eviction for nonpayment for six months (other causes for eviction remain allowed). "So it's a way for, folks to get back on track and it's a way for housing providers to collect, you know, significant relief, around high balance, accounts receivables," she told the committee.

Committee members asked for source details on the homelessness and fentanyl graphs; Bridgewater said the January point-in-time counts and state drug-supply reporting were the primary sources and that she would follow up with precise citations. Several members asked for more granular data (for example, the VHIT covenant lengths) and Bridgewater said she could provide those figures after the hearing.

The committee did not take formal action during Bridgewater’s presentation. She closed by thanking members for their work and by reiterating that the trust’s priorities are interrelated: building permanently affordable units, bolstering shelter and recovery capacity, funding supportive staffing and pursuing appeal reforms to prevent multi-year project delays.

Ending: Bridgewater offered follow-up materials and said the trust would provide more detailed citations and program matrices requested by committee members.