2003 Consolidated Plan for Housing & Community Development
Housing Needs and Strategies

Assisted Housing Inventory

Currently, there are 9,295 rental units in the City of Burlington. Of those units:

• 2,331 - or around 25% - are occupied by lower-income households whose housing costs are generally 30% of their income due to Section 8 or equivalent rental assistance.
• 637 apartments are tax credit qualified units under the Low Income Housing Tax Credit program. Households receiving Section 8 rental assistance occupy some, if not most, of these units.

Currently, there are 6,590 owner-occupied units in the City of Burlington. Of those units:

• 268 have had the benefit of grants for free paint and accessibility modifications and/or low-interest loans for rehabilitation through the City's CDBG-funded Housing Initiatives Program over the last 7 years;
• 269 have publicly-subsidized low-interest mortgages provided through the Vermont Housing Finance Agency;
• 138 units are price-restricted land trust houses and condominiums.

Assisted Rental Inventory

Details of the Assisted Housing Inventory

Public Housing - Burlington Housing Authority

The Burlington Housing Authority (BHA) owns 343 units of conventional Public Housing, 209 of which are designated for elderly and disabled households and 134 of which are for families. All units are occupied and annual vacancy rates are approximately 1% reflecting normal unit turnover time. BHA also manages 169 units of assisted housing.

BHA currently has a total of 1,711 Section 8 Certificates and Vouchers, which are utilized both in the City of Burlington and surrounding communities. Approximately 60% of these certificates and vouchers are utilized in the City. These Certificates and Vouchers are broken down as follows:

Expected Losses

The City does not anticipate any loss of Assisted Housing units from the current inventory.

Waiting List

BHA's waiting lists include 267 households for public housing and 1,078 households for the Section 8 program. During the past few years, the number of applicants on BHA's master Section 8 waiting list has remained relatively level at around 900 to 1,000. However, this number has to be viewed in the context of the fact that BHA has substantially increased the number of rental assistance subsidies available (from total funding commitments of 416 units in 1995 to 1,711 units currently). If the number of subsidies available had been static, it is fair to assume that the waiting list would have grown.

Because of the new subsidies available, wait times for assisted housing programs have dropped over the past few years. The current wait time for public housing varies by bedroom size from immediate availability to 2 years. For Section 8 vouchers, the wait time has dropped over the past few years from 5 years to 12 months or less, depending on the particular waiting list. All waiting lists are open. Seventy-six percent of those on the public housing and Section 8 tenant-based assistance waiting lists are extremely low income (less than or equal to 30% of median).

Public Housing Conditions

The Public Housing units are all in good physical condition, as evidenced by the HUD Real Estate Assessment Center physical inspections conducted in 2002. BHA has been designated a High Performer under the Public Housing Assessment System (PHAS) advisory score, with a score of 97 on 12/31/2002.

Because of the age of the buildings, extensive capital improvements are required over the next ten years. Under its 10 Year Capital Needs Plan, BHA expects to spend $4,500,000 for capital projects utilizing anticipated HUD Capital Fund Grants and Public Housing Reserves.

BHA conducted an updated 504 analysis of its public housing developments and rental assistance program in its fiscal year 2001 and has implemented recommendations contained in that analysis.

Additional Assisted Housing

Page last updated May 13, 2003