Existing housing committees in Vermont

Monique E. Priestly

• Established two warming shelters in the region before COVID.
• Brattleboro town removed density cap in residential housing.
• Brattleboro town reduced development review process.

• Apartments- in-Homes
• Home Improvement Program
• Creative Community Housing Program
• Rent-To-Own
• Rental Housing Improvement Program

• BIPOC affordable home ownership program.
• Conducted Housing Summit to explore challenges and opportunities
• Inclusionary Zoning to ensure inclusive and affordable housing
• ADU resources
• Low interest loan for home repair
• Landlord assistance program
• Access modification grants

• Working with homeowners who have vacant units to use rental-rehab-program
• Promoting ADUs for expanding workforce and senior housing.
• In 2019, hired Camoin 360 to complete a housing analysis with an implementation plan.

• Meeting other housing groups, learning about different aspects of zoning and planning.
• Planning outreach campaign to the community, including opportunities for landlords, business owners, renters and those living or working in Essex.
• Housing Needs Assessment completed.
• Created different working groups for different activities, such as story sharing conversations and Outreach, Housing Trust Fund, Zoning issues

• Accessory Apartment ADU video, Inclusionary Zoning, energy audit and retrofits at several mobile homes in Mountain View MHP, participated in Sunny Acres MHP becoming a coop.
• Did Housing Needs Assessment in 2017, encouraged Select Board to seek VCDP funding for Kelley’s Field improvements, providing input to DRB on several large scale housing developments public to promote ADU.

• Conducted ADU survey in 2021 to know owners and renters perspective
• Plans to conduct public forum and outreach to landowners and developers about affordable housing opportunities.

• Ongoing land banking, Affordable land initiative.
• Incentivizes homeowner’s construction of ADUs through grant and free professional services throughout permitting, design and development. In exchange ADUs remain affordable for 5 years.
• Developed a guide booklet to creating and renting ADUs.

• Flexibility in the design, height and density of affordable housing projects
• Encourages senior and workforce developers through density bonus

• Formed in 1999 and has spearheaded a number of projects and award winning programs including creating a Housing Trust Fund, a first time home buyer program, a homeshare program, and most recently a program to help create accessory apartments.
• Worked with the Planning Commission to revise the zoning bylaws to remove barriers to housing development and also coordinate with the Housing Trust Fund Committee to support affordable housing development with funds from the Housing Trust Fund.
• Has been a part of developing 124 subsidized housing units to increase the City’s total to 382. In total these subsidized housing units pay $322,000 per year in property taxes.
• Housing trust fund has a number of revolving loans. Since it has been active for more than 20 years, some of these same dollars have been used many times over.

• Creating affordable and energy efficient housing revolving fund.
• Use of Town owned and donated lands for affordable housing construction.
• Increase rental housing stock through ADUs and making density bonus.
• Promote “missing middle housing”-duplexes, triplexes, quadraplexes. 

• Planning to outsource ADU to a nonprofit that can help homeowners with design, finance, permitting, contractor, tenant selection, etc. with loans that could partially forgive of the homeowner follows certain conditions that rental unit be affordable.
• The idea is that the nonprofit (like Woodstock Comm. Trust) does the grunt work, helping the home owner with initial design, finances, permitting, compliance, getting a contractor, and tenant selection, sort of “holding the hand” of the home owner.
• Best financing system is a loan (not grant) which is secured by the house itself; this loan could be partly forgiven if the home owner follows certain conditions. 

• Plans to construct workforce housing.
• Home sharing as an option. Related resource: HomeShare VT.

• Research for Randolph’s Bethany church emergency apartments.

• Received FY21 Municipal Planning Grant to study housing needs and revised zoning regulations to meet housing needs; completed a draft housing needs assessment.

• Developed Housing Booklet, Housing map, revised zoning regulations regarding Accessory Dwelling Units (ADU) and ADU approval process to assist residents through the process at local and state level.

• Engaging diverse partners in the coalition, including faith-based, service providers, state agencies, regional commission, economic development, housing developers.
• Exploring the purchase of a vacant motel to house people experiencing homelessness.
• Working with planning commissions on regulatory tools.

• Inclusionary zoning in transit district and expanding to city-wide in 2021.
• Working on recommendations that the city focus on equity and diversity as well as affordability.
• Planning to use Trust Fund for inclusionary zoning.
• Re-purposing land and commercial house for residential.

• Hosted a Community Housing Forum: “Housing: Not What, but Who”, engaging community members with information, personal narratives and inspiring successful housing solutions. 

• Housing tours, streamlining permit process, eliminating zoning barriers
• Keys To The Valley Toolbox: Strategies and policies to promote safe and affordable housing using six goals that are broken down into key action areas.

• Established housing goals for the Winooski Master Plan, identified gaps in available housing in Winooski and set targets to fill those gaps.
• Established a Housing Trust Fund. -Held a housing policy summit hosting housing experts to discuss housing policy options for the community.
• Annually reviews gentrification monitoring report and the landlord registry rental pricing survey.
• Made recommendations to the Planning Commission for policy changes to promote creation of affordable housing.
• Providing interpreted homeownership and down payment outreach education to promote Champlain Housing Trust, AALV and VHFA activities.
• Advocating on how to use Section 8 voucher for homeownership.
• Advocating on reducing parking lot and density for multifamily unit projects.

• Incentivizing landlords to move from short term to long term rentals
• Promoting Home Share, Mobile Home Parks
• Incentivize landlords to create and make ADUs affordable for 5 years.
• Promoting employer provided housing.
• Parking lot reduction.