|
All the citizens of Burlington have the right to live and raise their
families in homes which are safe and sound at a cost that allows them to afford
the other necessities of life. In the face of Burlington's prosperity, thousands
of Burlington's residents have been left behind through no fault of their own.
They include the elderly and disabled, as well as many workers whose wages have
not kept up with housing costs.
The free market for housing is often not a fair market for low income
residents. Left unchecked, market forces will allow housing to deteriorate, push
people from their homes and leave others with no homes at all. The City must act
to protect its residents from this harm through enforcement of its housing
ordinances (including its inclusionary zoning ordinance, which makes affordable
housing an integral part of every newly constructed residential project in the
City) and the provision of housing outside the private market. In addition, the
City needs to find ways to protect residents from unfair property speculation
and to give tenants the protection of just cause eviction laws.
Housing is the essence of Burlington's neighborhoods. Support for affordable
housing allows elders to remain in the homes and neighborhoods they know.
Homebuyer purchase and rehabilitation programs allow the next generation of
residents to own and modernize older homes.
The nonprofit housing organizations serve a crucial role in the development
of affordable rental housing and housing for the most vulnerable populations.
The City will continue to support these community-based nonprofit housing
developers in their efforts in Burlington and in expanding their areas of
operation beyond Burlington's Old North End - and beyond Burlington.
Affordable housing is also a balance to economic development. In boom times,
affordable housing ensures that there is housing for workers and that rising
prices do not displace residents. In a troubled economy, affordable housing
development is an economic engine and its subsidies ensure that low-income
residents are not made homeless. Finally, the use of affordable housing to
redevelop distressed neighborhoods prevents the loss of value of the surrounding
properties and encourages long-term investment by other property owners.
Control of affordable housing should rest with the community as a whole and
with the residents of that housing. Government subsidies for housing should
remain with the assisted housing, and not simply provide profits to the initial
occupant or developer. Renters deserve equal protections of their legal rights
to decent homes. The benefits and burdens of development in the community must
be evenly shared among the residents of the community and must prevent extensive
displacement and cost burdens to low income people.
Burlington's housing policy is shaped around the concept of a housing tenure
ladder. The ladder is an affordable housing system that combines security and
mobility, one that guarantees both a "right to stay put" and a
"chance to move on." The rungs of the housing tenure ladder consist of
a wide range of living situations, including single room occupancy (SRO),
family-sized apartments, detached homes, cooperatives, condominiums, group homes
and co-housing. This housing includes a wide range of tenures, including public
ownership, for-profit rental, nonprofit rentals, cooperative ownership, limited
equity condominiums and houses, and market-priced condominiums and houses.
The many different rungs allow residents to change their housing when their
needs or circumstances change, from living situations that are precarious to
those that are more secure; moving from situations that are cramped to those
that are more commodious; moving from situations requiring each and every
resident to "go it alone" to those that allow more cooperative sharing
of residential responsibilities, burdens and risks. At each rung, the tenure of
residents must be secure and opportunities must be created, with an easy process
for moving from one rung to another. The City will continue to support new
models of housing tenure that create additional rungs on the housing tenure
ladders, bridging the yawning gap between for-profit rental housing and
market-priced homeownership.
The City has a long-standing policy of minimizing involuntary displacement.
That policy is even more critical in the current housing market, where
low-income residents who lose housing stand little chance of regaining it.
The City will continue to enforce Uniform Relocation Act requirements for all
sub-grantees. The City will also continue to enforce its condominium conversion
and housing replacement ordinances, and will continue to impose rent
stabilization agreements on any landlord receiving a Housing Initiatives Program
loan.
The City will continue to support landlord-tenant resource services, funded
through the Apartment Registration Fee Ordinance. Those services include the
efforts of Vermont Tenants, Inc. and Vermont Apartment Owners Services to inform
tenants and landlords of their legal rights and responsibilities. Both landlords
and tenants often turn to Renting in Vermont, a booklet produced by Vermont
Tenants, Inc. to answer basic questions about their rights and responsibilities.
It summarizes Vermont's landlord/tenant law as well as some municipal laws,
state regulations and Vermont Supreme Court decisions that also govern the
landlord/tenant relationship. The Affordable Housing Task Force found that in
Burlington, both parties would benefit by requiring landlords to distribute a
Burlington-specific handout that outlines the rights and responsibilities of
both landlords and tenants and includes the basics of local laws and norms of
behavior that are expected of tenants, i.e. noise, trash, recycling, and housing
codes. Consideration should be given to requiring certain lease provisions in
all leases.
Under Vermont law, a landlord may terminate a tenancy for no cause. The
majority of Affordable Housing Task Force members felt that lease-abiding
tenants should be afforded some additional security of tenure by extending the
notice period for no cause evictions. Currently, tenants without written rental
agreements (leases) may be evicted provided that the landlord gives them 60-day
written notice if renting monthly, 21 days if renting weekly, and 90-day written
notice if the tenant has resided in the premises continuously for over two years
and rents monthly. Under a written rental agreement, a tenant can be evicted
under whatever time period the parties agree on, but no less than 30 days if
renting monthly, and no less than 7 days if renting weekly. A tenant with a
written lease who has resided in the premises continuously for over two years is
entitled to no less than 60 days notice for a no cause eviction. The concept of
a graduated notice period is that the longer that a tenant has resided
continuously in an apartment, the longer notice period to which they are
entitled. In March 2003, Burlington voters overwhelmingly passed a Charter
change that increases the notice period for no-cause evictions that landlords
must provide to tenants from 60 days to 90 days. In addition, the voters also
passed a Charter change increasing the notice period for rent increases from 60
days to 90 days. Both of these amendments to the City's Charter must be approved
by the General Assembly of the Vermont Legislature and signed by the Governor
before they become effective.
The City will continue to assist elderly and disabled homeowners to stay in
their homes through grants and loans provided through the City's Housing
Initiatives Program. The City will also continue to support the home?matching
program of HomeShare Vermont.
The City remains committed to reducing residential energy costs. The City
adopted a Minimum Rental Housing Energy Efficiency Standards Ordinance in March
of 1997, and will continue to enforce it. Through December 2002, 624 apartments
in 238 buildings had been inspected, with 233 buildings requiring some work. The
average compliance cost per unit has been $668, while the average annual savings
per unit is $138.
The City will continue to support the residential demand side management
programs of the Burlington Electric Department (BED) and Vermont Gas Systems (VGS).
BED and VGS continue to work closely together on efficiency projects, which
creates a comprehensive set of energy services for city residents. The City will
also continue to support Vermont Energy Investment Corporation's programs for
improving residential and commercial energy efficiency. With the assistance of
the Community & Economic Development Office, BED and Vermont Development
Credit Union have developed a loan program to fund energy efficiency projects.
The City supports and collaborates with the Champlain Valley Office of
Economic Opportunity's Weatherization Service to provide energy efficiency
improvements (i.e. energy analysis, insulation, low cost repairs, heating system
replacement) for residential properties. In the last five program years, the
Weatherization Service has completed weatherization of 126 buildings within the
City of Burlington, for a total of 236 residential units. Energy improvements
totaling nearly $375,000 in direct costs (excluding technical assistance,
administrative and other program expenses) have been made in the City, for an
average improvement of more than $2,975 per building or nearly $1,600 per unit.
The Weatherization Service partners with rental property owners, Vermont Gas
Systems and the Burlington Electric Department (BED) so that all organizations
can maximize their impacts. Of the $375,000 in direct costs, the Weatherization
Service provided nearly $260,000; Vermont Gas participated in nearly $85,000 of
the costs; and BED provided nearly $13,000 in funding. Property owners provided
nearly $11,500 in direct funding, as well as in-kind participation in
improvements with direct funding that did not pass through the Weatherization
Service. (Other government programs made up the remaining costs of approximately
$5,500.) CEDO will continue to provide low?interest loans from its Housing
Initiatives Program for moderate rehabilitation to meet code and increase energy
efficiency. CEDO will also continue to promote cost?effective energy
improvements in every housing project supported directly or indirectly with
public resources.
Approximately 300 units of privately owned rental housing in Burlington were
rehabilitated and received Project-Based Section 8 in the early 1980s. Presently
between 70 to 100 of those units do not have agreements ensuring their long-term
affordability. In order to prevent the conversion of those units to market rate
housing when their contracts expire over the next 5 to 10 years, agreements need
to be reached with each property owner that preserve the future affordability.
The City has designated BHA as the entity to work with the Vermont Housing
Finance Agency to encourage the conversion of privately owned Section 8
project-based developments to non-profit ownership prior to the end of the
Section 8 contracts.
In addition, the City will urge Vermont's Congressional delegation to support
a preservation tax incentive that would provide exit tax relief in order to
encourage private-sector owners of assisted housing to transfer properties to
"preservation entities" committed to preserving the stock as
affordable housing. Congress should also establish federal funding for
low-income housing preservation as proposed in S. 1365, co-sponsored by Senator
Jeffords. Preservation should be included as an eligible activity under any
National Housing Trust Fund proposal passed by Congress. Included as one of the
recommendations or the Millennial Housing Commission in May 2002, this proposal
is necessary to preserving privately owned, federally assisted units. Most of
the owners of these properties face such considerable capital tax liabilities
that they will likely sell to the highest bidder and displace the tenants.
Capital gains tax changes will encourage the sale of Section 8 New
Construction/Substantial Rehabilitation projects and Low Income Housing Tax
Credit projects to nonprofits in order to ensure long-term affordability.
The results of lead screening in the City from 1994 to 2002 show, overall, a
decided downward trend in the number of children with elevated lead levels:
| |
# Children Tested |
Blood Lead Level (ug/dL) |
| Normal (Not Elevated) |
10-14
c&v (Low) |
15-19 v (Moderate) |
20+ v (Severe) |
| 1994 |
268 |
231 |
86.2% |
30 |
11% |
1 |
.3% |
6 |
2.2% |
| 1995 |
348 |
283 |
81.3% |
50 |
14% |
5 |
1.4% |
10 |
2.9% |
| 1996 |
513 |
465 |
90.6% |
41 |
8% |
4 |
.8% |
3 |
.7% |
| 1997 |
485 |
463 |
95.5% |
18 |
3.7% |
3 |
.6% |
1 |
.2% |
| 1998 |
424 |
406 |
95.7% |
15 |
3.5% |
2 |
.5% |
1 |
.2% |
| 1999 |
462 |
446 |
96.5% |
14 |
3% |
1 |
.2% |
1 |
.2% |
| 2000 |
458 |
428 |
93.4% |
27 |
5.9% |
2 |
.4% |
1 |
.2% |
|
2001 |
363 |
354 |
97.5% |
9 |
2.5% |
0 |
|
0 |
|
| 2002 |
366 |
357 |
97.5% |
9 |
2.5% |
0 |
|
0 |
|
Over the five-year period from 1994 to 1999, Burlington's percent of children
with an elevated blood lead level (EBL) was 8.8%, compared to a statewide
percentage of 4.7%. The Vermont Department of Health is currently seeking
funding from the Center for Disease Control's Childhood Lead Poisoning
Prevention Program to undertake some targeted activities with the Burlington
Code Enforcement Office, Visiting Nurse Association, and Vermont Tenants, Inc.
to address this issue.
Many of the growing refugee community in Burlington are housed in older
housing units, where lead-based paint hazards are more likely to exist. The
Vermont Department of Health has developed Healthy Home booklets in Vietnamese
and Bosnian (as well as Spanish) to assist in screening efforts.
The City's nonprofit housing partners test the properties they rehabilitate
for lead paint hazards and collaborate with the Vermont Housing &
Conservation Board's Lead Paint Reduction Program to mitigate lead paint
hazards. CEDO's Housing Development Coordinator works as a liaison with the
state program and property owners to assure that all projects funded through
CEDO also had lead abatement work completed as part of the project. VHCB has
mitigated lead paint hazards in a total of 203 units in Burlington through
November 2002, awarding $877,598 in lead paint program funds to these projects.
All owners of multiple unit properties and contractors working on these
properties take and provide evidence that they have taken the Lead Paint
Abatement Essential Maintenance Practices (EMPs) class given in conjunction with
the State's Health Dept and VHCB's Lead paint Reduction Program.
The City will continue to undertake the following activities to address lead
paint hazards in the City's housing units:
- The City will support the continuation and expansion of a lead paint
hazard reduction strategy for the Old North End Community in collaboration with
the Vermont Department of Health and the Vermont Housing and Conservation
Board's (VHCB) Lead Based Paint Hazard Reduction Program.
- For housing assisted with public funds from the City's Housing Initiatives
Program, the Community & Economic Development Office (CEDO) will insist on a
plan for mitigating lead paint hazards in cases where that housing is occupied
by children under six years of age.
- CEDO will require all recipients of free exterior paint to participate in
a lead paint safety training course offered free of charge by the VHCB.
The new HUD regulations applicable to federally subsidized housing regarding lead paint
that went into effect in September 2000
require that any loose/deteriorating paint in a housing unit with a child age
six years or under must be corrected by appropriately trained maintenance
people, and that the unit must subsequently pass a clearance test. This is a
potentially serious new hurdle for recruiting private landlords to participate
in the Section 8 program. The regulations also have the potential to increase
discrimination against families with young children - a group that already
encounters great difficulty in a tight housing market.
- The City will assist BHA in the development of a program in conjunction
with the Vermont Housing and Conservation Board (VHCB) to perform lead-based
paint hazard reduction on Section 8 apartments at little or no cost to the
landlord.
The shortage of affordable housing in Vermont and nationally has led to a
dramatic increase in the number of homeless families and disabled individuals.
Emergency shelters are strained beyond capacity to meet this escalating need.
The largest increase in the homeless population throughout Vermont over the past
three years has been among families - many of whom have at least one full-time
wage earner. As long as a livable wage job remains out of reach for some
Vermonters, public subsidies will always be needed to help families obtain and
retain their housing.
Federal resources to fund homeless services are meager at best. Given the
imminent convergence of welfare time limits with a downturn in the economy, it
is highly likely that even greater pressure will be placed on local shelters.
McKinney Homeless Assistance Program funding must be substantially increased to
accommodate the growing number of families and individuals who are simply unable
to pay the high cost of housing in their communities.
The State should at a minimum maintain current funding levels for Homeless
Shelters and Services funded through the State Office of Economic Opportunity,
as well as the "Back Rent" Program, Temporary Housing Assistance and
Assistive Community Care Services funded through PATH, and should increase
funding levels wherever possible. These programs provide a critical safety net
that prevents many Vermonters from becoming homeless. Investment in such
programs prevents the high personal and social costs of homelessness. In
addition, the State should create a demonstration project to encourage the
development of more transitional housing for formerly homeless families.
Nationally, the Section 8 voucher program (rental assistance) serves only
about a quarter of the families eligible for assistance. The Burlington Housing
Authority, which serves all of Burlington and any dwelling unit located within a
six-mile radius of Burlington, has increased the number of Section 8 vouchers
from about 500 in 1995 to over 1,500 in 2002. Even with this significant
increase in available subsidies, there is still a considerable waiting period
for eligible applicants. The federal government should dramatically increase
funding levels for Section 8 Vouchers.
The 1996 welfare reform law gave states substantial flexibility to use
federal and state funds to design programs that help families move from welfare
to self-sufficiency. An increasing number of states and county governments are
recognizing that housing assistance is critical to the success of welfare
reform. Using federal welfare funds and state matching funds, these states are
providing housing subsidies to families that are (or recently were) on welfare.
Assistance ranges from tenant-based and project-based rental assistance to
homeownership assistance for families that are making the transition from
welfare to work. In Vermont, the main concern about this approach among
low-income advocates is that current welfare benefit levels not be reduced in
order to provide funds for housing subsidies. Vermont should explore using
untapped TANF reserve funds, without reducing benefit levels, to provide housing
subsidies to families that are (or recently were) on welfare.
In addition, too many assisted households fail to successfully maintain their
housing. Providing supportive services to families to help them address issues
that jeopardize their housing is far more cost-effective and humane than
emergency shelters. Unfortunately, there are currently no federal programs that
address this aspect of housing. Federal funds should be available to assist
public and nonprofit organizations and private sector housing providers to
provide supportive services that help tenants retain their housing. Also, the
Vermont Agency of Human Services should be encouraged to redirect resources to
support housing retention/eviction prevention programs that are more
cost-effective than emergency housing.
Despite the innovative funding strategies used by today's entrepreneurial
nonprofit housing organizations, the need for affordable housing far outpaces
the supply. Public funding, especially from the federal government, is the
greatest limiting factor in the capacity of the nonprofits to create new
affordable housing. The private sector is unable to build housing that serves
low-income households without large amounts of public subsidy.
Since 1987, the Vermont Housing and Conservation Board has invested $92
million of state funds in affordable housing. This has helped to generate over
$320 million in construction activity, created approximately 10,000 jobs in
Vermont, and created or preserved over 6,000 units of housing - these benefits
reach deep into our community. But the need for affordable housing far exceeds
what the resources can deliver. To exacerbate an already bad situation, federal
support for housing has plummeted since the mid-1980s. According to the recent
report, Between a Rock and a Hard Place: Housing and Wages in Vermont, the
Section 8 new construction/substantial rehabilitation program alone funded the
construction/rehabilitation of 4,100 affordable apartments in Vermont between
1976 and 1985 (when the program was abolished). Over the next twelve years, only
2,384 units were built in Vermont with every remaining form of federal
assistance combined." The State should at a minimum maintain current
funding levels for the Vermont Housing and Conservation Board and the State Low
Income Housing Tax Credit, and should increase funding wherever possible.
Other than the HOME program, which was created by Congress in 1992, there
have been no new federal programs designed to stimulate new rental housing
production for the past 15 years. The federal Low Income Housing Tax Credit is
the only program specifically for new production, and applications for tax
credits far exceed the amount available. For example in the semi-annual
application round of August 2002, the total credits requested were approximately
$2.7 million and the credit available was approximately $650,000. Congress
should establish a new rental housing production program that provides capital
grants, such as the proposed National Housing Trust Fund that would build and
preserve 1.5 million units of rental housing for the lowest income families over
the next 10 years.
Burlington currently receives slightly over $1 million of Community
Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds and $500,000 of HOME Investment Partnership
funds. The City uses roughly one-third of the CDBG funds and all of the HOME
funds in support of affordable housing. The amount of funding that the City
receives under both programs has remained relatively unchanged over the past
decade. Any increase to either program will allow the City to assist more low
and moderate-income households with their housing needs. Congress should, at a
minimum, maintain current funding levels for CDBG and HOME and should seek to
increase funding levels wherever possible. In particular, the Vermont
Congressional Delegation is urged to keep pushing for an increase in the small
state minimum under the HOME program.
The greatest challenge facing Burlington in its efforts to increase the rate
of homeownership is a lack of grant funds available for rehabilitation to make
older homes in central city neighborhoods competitive with surrounding newer
homes. Most of the older homes do not appraise at a level high enough to finance
the rehabilitation needed to bring the properties up to modern codes and
livability standards. Capital grants for rehabilitation along with financial
assistance for down-payments and closing costs and homeownership training, are
among the most significant ways that the City can support increased
homeownership in Burlington. The City Council should seek voter approval for
increasing the Housing Trust Fund tax rate by one cent or by developing a new,
alternate funding source for the purpose of supporting homeownership in areas of
the city with low rates of homeownership.
Under the VHCB HOMELAND Program, lower-income households can receive
financial assistance to purchase their own home from offerings on the private
market. Depending on income level, need and other factors, grants of up to
$20,000 are available through the Burlington Community Land Trust to reduce the
purchase price. Homebuyer education and preparedness is provided through BCLT's
HomeOwnership Center. State funding for both of these programs is often the key
to unlocking the door to homeownership for low-income families, and must be
maintained.
At the City's request, in May 2002, the Board of Commissioners of the Vermont
Housing Finance Agency increased VHFA's income and purchase price limits for two
of Burlington's census tracts (4 and 10). This change will expand purchase
options to first-time homebuyers, but the limits need to be increased for other
neighborhoods in order to extend this incentive to more buyers, and to make
urban home buying more attractive. Federal rules which prohibit VHFA from making
this change for census tracts with poverty rates below a set level should be
changed. Due to an increase in the median household income in census tract 10
from the 2000 Census, this tract is no longer eligible for the increased income
and purchase price limits.
In addition, the City will encourage Congress to establish tax credits and
other incentives to encourage the production of owner-occupied housing
affordable to low and moderate-income households and increase funding for
homeownership counseling. Administered through state housing finance agencies,
the tax credit could be used to offset the developer's total development cost
(in areas where the cost to build or rehabilitate a home is greater than the
appraised value) or as a credit to lenders who provide lower-cost mortgages to
qualified buyers. This concept is included in the Millennial Housing Commission
Report, which was presented to Congress in May 2002.
Burlington Housing Authority (BHA) operates one of the nation's most
successful Section 8 homeownership demonstration projects. This program is a
very effective way to extend the benefits of homeownership to very low-income
families. The Task Force concluded that the City ought to find ways to provide
direct financial support for the growth of BHA's Section 8 | 
