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Affordable housing continues to be the City’s highest community
development priority. In 2005, the City Council identified
affordable housing as one of its top three priorities. For the
past year, CEDO has worked closely with the City Council Community
Development and Neighborhood Revitalization Committee to amend
existing ordinances and launch new initiatives to address the housing crisis.
Vermont Interfaith Action has also
brought an organized group of citizens into the debate over how to
create housing that is affordable to low-income residents.
The City uses its CDBG funds in the housing arena principally to
support the operating and predevelopment costs of nonprofit housing
developers. This use of funds best fits the City’s housing
objectives because (1) there are other, larger fund sources
available for “hard” project costs, i.e., bricks and mortar; (2)
there often are not other, or are insufficient, fund sources
available to pay for program delivery costs; and (3) the amount of
CDBG funds available is not large enough to accomplish much if used
for hard project costs. The City does use CDBG funds for hard
project costs on small housing rehab projects and for special
projects (such as shelter renovations), where other funds are often
not available.
Funding for “hard” project costs for new construction and rehab
of affordable housing comes principally through the HOME program;
the Low Income Housing Tax Credit (allocated through the Vermont
Housing Finance Agency); the Vermont Housing & Conservation Board;
the state Community Development Block Grant program; special needs
HUD programs such as the 202 and 811 programs (for housing for the
elderly and disabled); and/or bank debt.
Two nonprofit housing developers (the Burlington Community Land
Trust and Cathedral Square Corporation), the Burlington Housing
Authority, YouthBuild and CEDO expended $324,810 in CDBG funds and
$580,681 in HOME funds during Program Year 2005 to rehabilitate and
increase the supply of affordable housing in the City. The
accomplishments of each program are described in the Goals,
Strategies and Funded Activities section of this Report, as they
relate to each housing priority. Overall, housing programs leveraged
$2,459,378 million this year in other public and private funds for
operating costs and costs for completed projects – a ratio of over
9:3 of leveraged to CDBG funds.
In 2005, the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development recognized
Burlington as a model for removing regulatory barriers
that drive up housing costs. HUD acknowledged that our community is
working to create a more inclusive environment for families
struggling to afford decent homes.
Much of the funding and staff effort this year in our Housing
Division has gone into preserving Low Income Housing Tax Credit
apartment complexes as affordable housing and acquiring and
rehabilitating substandard rental properties in the Old North End. In addition, we have
provided significant technical assistance to several private sector
housing developers to navigate the development review and permit
appeal process. Unfortunately, the vast majority of market-rate and
affordable housing projects
that have been approved by the City are under appeal by adjacent
property owners. Recent legislative changes that were
intended to make the appeal process more fair and timely have not yet
proven to ameliorate a permit process that often takes years to
negotiate and is both very costly and risky for developers.
On the nonprofit development side, several major projects are
just now coming to fruition. For example, the structure of the Banknorth
redevelopment project has changed and is now being done as a
turn-key project by Redstone Development. The demolition has begun,
but several ideas have emerged which have stalled the design and
permitting process. The Burlington Community Land Trust and Housing
Vermont have acquired 5 rental properties scattered through the Old
North End and formed the Callahan Housing Project. This
project involves major rehabilitation and lead hazard reduction of
28 existing apartments in the Old North End in
support of the North Street Revitalization Project.
Other projects worthy of mention here are the Burlington Housing
Authority's acquisition and preservation of Randall Apartments in
the King Street area of St. Paul and Burlington Co-Housing's East
Avenue project. BHA has purchased an 11-unit property that was
at risk of being converted to market rate rentals when the owner has
the option to opt out of the project-based Section 8 contract in a
few years. Co-Housing is in the midst of purchasing the Turner
property on East Avenue from the Burlington Community Development
Corporation to create a 32-unit common interest “co-housing”
community (condo). As part of this project, 11 units will be sold to
households earning less than median income. This project is
benefiting from the flexibility created by HUD’s designation of the
Burlington Neighborhood Revitalization Strategy Area (NRSA), which
allows the City to aggregate all housing units assisted with CDBG
and located in the NRSA for purposes of meeting the federal
requirement that at least 51% of CDBG be used to benefit low- and
moderate-income households.
The local nonprofit housing sector will see a major institutional
change in late 2006. After a lengthy collaborative process, the Boards of
Directors for the Burlington Community Land Trust and Lake Champlain
Housing Development Corporation have decided to merge the
organizations into one nonprofit corporation. They determined that
now is an “opportune time to create a single, strong professional
organization to ensure the longevity of [their] ability to serve
many more Vermonters with their continuing and expanding need for
affordable housing.”
Since the early 1980s, the City has adopted various ordinances intended to
protect vulnerable residents, preserve the existing affordable housing stock and
produce new affordable housing. CEDO’s Assistant Director for Housing
administers numerous housing ordinances and has been instrumental in several
zoning amendments designed to encourage high quality affordable and market rate
infill housing. CEDO and the Code Enforcement Office are developing a local lead
paint safety ordinance. The City Council has identified housing as one their
three priorities for 2005-2006, and CEDO is assisting them with the process of
charting a course of action. We are pursuing the following new ordinances and
ordinance amendments to accomplish various local housing goals:
- Exempt certain rental properties from the requirements of
the City’s Condo Conversion ordinance.
- Amend Inclusionary Zoning to discourage or disallow building
affordable units off site.
- Require that contractors and property owners perform
renovations according to standard lead safe work practices.
The City’s Assistant Director for Housing served as the
co-convener of the Housing Action Group of the Racism Study Circles.
The City has set the following fair housing goals for the next year:
- Modernize the City’s fair housing ordinances and make them
substantially equivalent with federal fair housing law.
- Expand local fair housing enforcement capacity.
- Maintain and augment local fair housing education and
outreach capacity.
As with previous applications for federal funding, the City
provided certification this year that the grant application
submitted to the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development by
the Champlain Valley Office of Economic Opportunity is consistent
with the City’s Consolidated Plan.
The Community & Economic Development Office actively encourages
affirmative marketing of HOME-funded units. Recipients of HOME funds
must try to provide information to and otherwise attract eligible
persons from all racial, ethnic and gender groups in the housing
market area. All correspondence, notices and advertisements related
to HOME funds must contain either the Equal Housing Opportunity
logotype or slogan. Participants in the HOME program are required to
use affirmative fair housing marketing practices in soliciting
renters or buyers, determining their eligibility, and concluding all
transactions. In addition, owners of HOME-assisted housing must
comply with the following procedures:
- Any advertising of vacant units must include the equal
housing opportunity logo or statement. Advertising media may
include newspapers, radio, television, brochures, leaflets or be
simply a sign in a window;
- Outreach is expected to community organizations, employment
centers, housing agencies, social service agencies, medical
centers, schools and municipalities;
- Owners must maintain a file containing a record of all
marketing efforts, e.g., copies of newspaper ads, copies of
letters, etc.
The City has a very active Homeless Alliance (Continuum of Care)
which meets monthly and covers the greater Burlington metropolitan
area. It has existed since the late 1980s. The City sends a
representative to the monthly Continuum meetings. The Alliance was
awarded $681,779 in the last round of HUD’s Continuum of Care Super
NOFA, and applied for $758,015 in the current round. Continuum
services are delivered through a consortium of nonprofit
organizations, housing developers, and the Burlington Housing
Authority. Continuum nonprofits are funded through a combination of
federal, state, local, private and United Way funds. In this program
year, the City provided CDBG grants for a number of local Continuum
programs; information on those grants can be found under the
“Protecting the Vulnerable” affordable housing priority section of
the CAPER.
Burlington was the first city in New England, and the first small
city in the nation, to develop a 10-Year Plan to End Homelessness.
The Plan outlines a series of steps designed to make permanent
housing available to everyone (including the chronically homeless),
affordable and in a form appropriate to their needs, with services
also available to ensure stable tenure.
As the point-in-time numbers in the housing outcome indicators
section show, the City is seeing an increase in homelessness. As
part of this trend, providers are serving clients with more
complicated issues who often fall through the cracks of the
treatment system. For example, for clients with mental health
problems and Multiple Sclerosis (lesions on the brain, seizures,
outbursts of rage from the brain lesions), no mental health
treatment may be available because the MS is causing the mental
health issue. People who have developmental delays such that they
don't have the capacity to navigate a schedule or bus route often
have IQs too high to be eligible for services. The number of trauma
and abuse victims (sexual/physical/childhood) is increasing, with
backgrounds of abuse often followed by years of self-destructive
behaviors.
This year, we did see a number of advances on 10-Year Plan action
items. Legislation to extend foster care to age 21 (to ensure that
youth exiting state’s care do not become homeless when financial
support is cut off) was submitted and reviewed this past year, and
is currently under study to determine cost impacts.
With funding from the Department of Corrections, the Burlington
Housing Authority initiated an Offender Re-entry Housing Planning
process, which culminated in a November 2005 Offender Re-entry
Housing Plan, endorsed by the six largest Chittenden County cities
and towns. As the first steps in implementing a better discharge
process for offenders returning to the community, the Burlington
Housing Authority has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding
with the local correctional facility and probation and parole office
regarding housing assistance for returning offenders. The City of
Burlington is in the process of negotiating a Memorandum of
Understanding with the Department of Corrections regarding community
notification. The Plan Document also provides a template for
Memorandum of Understanding between the Department of Corrections
and other communities.
A new transitional housing project for women exiting the
corrections system, called Northern Lights, is underway. The
Burlington Housing Authority has purchased a long-vacant house from
the Catholic Diocese of Burlington and, working with a group of
community- and faith-based service providers, will provide 10 units
of housing in downtown Burlington. A series of community meetings is
helping to overcome some initial resistance to the project. The
Burlington Housing Authority is also working to find a location for
additional transitional housing for men exiting corrections.
Another transitional housing project, for victims of domestic
violence, is in the predevelopment stage. This project will provide
12 new units for those who are at less risk from their abusers and
therefore can afford lessened confidentiality in a new housing
situation.
The Homeless Alliance worked with the nonprofit housing
developers to develop a risk pool to offset the narrow operating
margins in nonprofit housing projects, which do not raise rents to
cover the possibility of property damage and rent defaults for “high
risk” tenants. The risk pool was financed with an award received by
the Burlington Community Land Trust from Home Depot honoring the
Waterfront Apartment project and with other private funds. Ten
dedicated units in nonprofit housing projects will now be available
as permanent housing for homeless families.
Serving as a demonstration project over the last two years, the
Chittenden Mental Health Court has reliably engaged non-violent
offenders in mental health treatment, something they had previously
been unable to achieve. In addition to the clinical and humanitarian
effects the court has had on the 44 individual participants served
thus far, the impact on downstream criminal behavior, crisis
services utilization and hospital recidivism has been dramatically
reduced. The preliminary findings suggest that the Mental Health
Court:
- Enhances public safety by reducing criminal behavior:
Participants had a total of 618 criminal charges before
participation, 58 during participation and 10 after
participation.
- Decreases health care costs by avoiding expensive
psychiatric hospitalizations: Participants had a total of 70
admissions to the Vermont State Hospital before participation, 4
during participation and 3 after participation.
- Decreases use of crisis services: Participants had a total
of 596 crisis contacts before participation, 233 during
participation and 110 after participation.
The court hopes to expand through a partnership with the Division
of Public Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry, and University of
Vermont College of Medicine. This will allow an array of UVM faculty
to bring their expertise to bear on this important project, and will
formally involve the Mental Health Court as a part of the curriculum
of a newly developed fellowship in public psychiatry.
The City manages a 42-month $1,567,019 Lead-Based Paint Hazard
Control grant from HUD which ends in March 2007. (The City has
applied for another grant to continue funding, which HUD will
announce by October 1, 2006). With this funding, the Community &
Economic Development Office has developed the Burlington Lead
Program and has accomplished the following:
- Reduced lead-based paint hazards in 64 low-income housing
units housing children
- Performed risk assessments/lead-based paint inspections in
123 units
- Sponsored 215 community outreach events
- Conducted 19 Essential Maintenance Practices (EMPs) classes
to educate 517 property owners and managers about keeping their
properties in a lead-safe condition.
The Burlington Lead Program offers the following additional
services for free to Burlington residents:
- Lead testing for all resident children under 6
- Home visits to educate tenants about sound cleaning
techniques, recommended nutrition and steps Technical assistance
for property owners to help identify and contain lead paint
hazards
- Use of special HEPA vacuums to help tenants properly clean
their homes of lead paint hazards
The Burlington Lead Program is partnering with the Community
Health Center of Burlington to test all children under age 6 and
educate residents about lead poisoning and the services the City
offers. This is accomplished through an aggressive door-to-door
outreach and education campaign.
The City's nonprofit housing partners collaborate with the
Burlington Lead Program to test the properties they rehabilitate for
lead paint hazards and to mitigate lead paint hazards. All owners of
multiple unit properties and contractors working on these properties
are required to provide evidence that they have taken the Essential
Maintenance Practices class to learn about the health effects of
lead poisoning, requirements of Vermont’s lead law and lead safe
work practices. They also need to provide evidence that they have
undertaken EMP work on their rental units. CEDO and the Director of
Code Enforcement are in the early stages of developing a local lead
paint safety ordinance.
The City continues to undertake the following additional
activities to address lead paint hazards in the City's housing
units:
- For housing assisted with public funds from the City's
Housing Initiatives Program, the Community & Economic
Development Office (CEDO) requires a plan for mitigating lead
paint hazards in cases where that housing is occupied by
children under six years of age.
- CEDO requires all recipients of free exterior paint to
participate in a lead paint safety training course offered free
of charge by the Lead Program.
The 2001 HUD Lead Safe Housing Rule applies to federally
subsidized housing and requires 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. With the creation of
the Burlington Lead Program, the City has ensured that this
potentially serious hurdle for recruiting private landlords to
participate in the Section 8 program is overcome. The availability
of the Lead Program helps to prevent discrimination against families
with young children - a group that already encounters great
difficulty in a tight housing market.
The Burlington Housing Authority (BHA) is a designated "High
Performer" and does not require financial assistance from the City
of Burlington. BHA supports an affiliate nonprofit organization,
Burlington Supportive Housing Initiatives, Inc. (BSHI), which has
501(c)(3) status. The purpose of this nonprofit is to develop
affordable supportive housing initiatives and to expand the resident
service programs of the BHA. CEDO's Assistant Director for Housing
has been appointed as the City's representative on the founding BSHI
Board and presently serves as the board president. The City will
work with BSHI to increase funding for resident service programs for
BHA program participants, including the Family Self-Sufficiency
Program, youth mentoring, homeownership, independent living and
service-enriched housing.
The City supports the implementation and expansion of BHA's
Section 8 Homeownership Option Program and encourages BHA to fully
utilize its ability to project-base Section 8 vouchers in support of
new affordable housing development. BHA is the City’s designated
housing agency responsible for preserving the existing stock of
moderate and substantial rehab Section 8 properties and ensuring
that they remain part of the affordable housing inventory. During
the period that ended June 30, 2006, BHA was nearing completion of
the acquisition of an 11-unit Section 8 property known as Randall
Apartments.
The following are highlights of BHA’s accomplishments for the
year ending June 30, 2006:
- Maintained status as 'High Performer' for both the Public
Housing and Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher Programs
- Through efficient program management, BHA continued to
assist the maximum allowable number of families under the
Section 8 Voucher Program (1,711), despite new restrictions in
federal funding
- Assisted 11 households to become homeowners under its
Section 8 Voucher Homeownership Option Program, which has
assisted over 70 households to date
- Provided escrow opportunities and case management support
for over 100 households participating in the Family
Self-Sufficiency Program
- Obtained a ROSS grant to expand Wellness Program activities
for its elderly and disabled public housing residents
- Obtained a Neighborhood Networks grant to establish a
computer training and resource center at Decker Tower which will
be available to all BHA program participants
- Continued its successful efforts to acquire privately owned
Section 8 project-based developments in order to assure their
perpetual affordability
- Initiated a program to assist offenders returning to the
community to find and maintain appropriate housing
- Obtained funding to hire a Somali Bantu case
management/interpreter to address the housing and service needs
of a growing African immigrant population
- Acquired a property (76 Cherry St.) to be developed as
transitional housing for returning women offenders
- Acquired a property (adjacent to Franklin Square) to be
developed as service-enriched housing for battered women
Page last updated
July 25, 2007
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