2007 Action Plan for Housing & Community Development
Executive Summary

Once again, Vermont had the tightest rental housing market in the country last year. The statewide homeownership market is not much better – in 2006, the owner vacancy rate was 1.2%. Locally, the median purchase price of a single-family home rose by 92% from 2000 to 2005, and the rent for a two-bedroom apartment rose by 40% during that same time period. But production of new affordable housing, as well as retention of the existing stock, is increasingly hampered by loss of state and federal resources. Shrinking federal resources are the principal obstacle to meeting the City’s housing and community development goals – an obstacle we cannot overcome by our consistent progress in removing regulatory barriers to new housing development.

The City’s economy is thriving in many ways, with healthy commercial vacancy rates and growth in entertainment expenditures and retail sales. But too many residents still lack the skills and/or opportunities for livable wage jobs. And, economic development is hindered by a lack of housing regionally.

The national Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) and HOME Investment Partnership programs continue to be principal revenue sources for the City to address the roots and consequences of poverty. The City became a Participating Jurisdiction in the HOME program in 2004 and now receives a direct federal formula entitlement in lieu of its previous receipt of HOME funds through the state. The City continues to receive a federal formula-based allocation of CDBG funds, but although that allocation appears to be level-funded this year, it was consistently cut annually each year for the preceding five years. Those are losses that cannot be made up at the local level.

Housing

The City’s allocation of housing resources is driven by community data outcome indicators: the rental vacancy rate; homeownership rates; rental and homeowner affordability; the number of homeless, both chronic and non-chronic; the age of our housing stock; elevated blood lead levels in children; and geographic concentrations of affordable housing. The City’s overall housing objectives are to produce new affordable housing; to promote homeownership and housing mobility; to preserve and upgrade the existing stock of affordable housing; to protect and house the most vulnerable citizens; and to press regional solutions to housing problems.

Coming towards the end of our five-year Consolidated Plan period, we are well on our way to achieving or exceeding our five-year goals for number of rental units rehabilitated; for new permanent supportive housing units; for new transitional housing units; for preserved elderly housing units; for new homeowner units and for homebuyer assistance; and for units with reduced lead hazards. We are lagging behind on our goals for new affordable rental units. Unfortunately, as in years past, the vast majority of new housing projects that have been approved by the City are under appeal by adjacent property owners. And, several legislative changes that were intended to make the appeal process more fair and timely have not yielded the intended benefits. We are also lagging behind on our owner rehab goal, principally because most of the homeowners who seek financial assistance need more rehab funding than the Community & Economic Development Office (CEDO) can reasonably provide. Also, the demand for financial assistance for accessibility modifications far exceeds the resources available from CDBG funds. Without an additional infusion of CDBG and HOME funds, the City will be hindered in its ability to help low and moderate-income Burlington residents address their housing needs.

Out of its current year Community Development Block Grant resources, the City plans to spend $215,502 on housing activities. The City also expects to receive $503,314 in current year HOME Investment Partnership Act resources, which it will spend on housing. The City has also budgeted approximately $50,000 in Lead-Based Hazard Reduction funds for the upcoming program year; this amount will increase if the City is approved for funding under HUD’s FY 2007 NOFA for Lead Hazard Control program. Local resources devoted to housing needs include an estimated $189,000 from the Housing Trust Fund and $630,000 from Apartment Registration Fees. (The City also anticipates that approximately $10,867,277 in Low Income Housing Tax Credits, $8 to $9 million in Section 8 resources, and $766,163 in McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act funds will be available to address needs and objectives identified in the Action Plan; these are not resources that the City receives or controls.)

Specific housing objectives for this year (some of which will receive CDBG and/or HOME resources) include:

• The completion of the Callahan Project, the acquisition and rehabilitation of 28 scattered site affordable rental units in the Old North End by the Champlain Housing Trust
• Predevelopment work and construction on 20 perpetually affordable housing units at the BankNorth site on King Street by the Champlain Housing Trust
• Completion of the 32-unit Hazelnut Hill Co-Housing project on East Avenue, to include 11 perpetually affordable homeowner units
• Completing the reconstruction of a single-family house on Crowley Street, in conjunction with Green Mountain Habitat for Humanity and YouthBuild Burlington
• Refinancing and rehabilitation of 49 units of scattered site affordable rental units in the Old North End by the Champlain Housing Trust
• Demolition of a severely dilapidated triplex at 33 Lafountain St. and rebuilding into an owner-occupied duplex by Green Mountain Habitat for Humanity in conjunction with YouthBuild
• Completion of the rehabilitation of Gable Apartments, a project with eleven project-based Section 8 units
• Predevelopment work and construction on the Sophie’s Place project, to include 11 service enriched housing units serving victims of domestic violence
• Construction of 2 new units and conversion of 10 rental units on Blodgett Street into affordable, limited equity condos
• Completion of Varney House, new transitional housing for 10 female offenders, in conjunction with Burlington Housing Authority
• Development of 20 to 30 mixed-income rental housing units on a City-owned parking lot at Browns Court

The Burlington Community Land Trust and the Lake Champlain Housing Development Corporation were each founded by the City of Burlington in 1984 to provide affordable, safe, and decent housing to families and individuals with low to moderate incomes. As geographic territory, services, and funding sources increasingly overlapped, the two organizations decided to combine their assets and resources into the Champlain Housing Trust (CHT). In 2006, the merger was complete. While CHT serves the three counties of Chittenden, Franklin and Grand Isle, it has maintained a particular focus on the Old North End of Burlington.

Economic Development

The City’s allocation of resources to economic development activities is also driven by local data outcome indicators: the number of jobs in the City; the City’s nonresidential tax base; commercial vacancy rates and share of county retail sales and entertainment expenditures; jobs within the City for City residents; and median income levels of City residents. The City’s overall economic development objectives are to stimulate job creation within certain targeted districts (downtown, North Street, the Intervale, the South End Arts and Business district, and the waterfront); to redevelop Brownfields; to support the continued growth and development of locally-owned businesses; to support livable wage opportunities and quality employment supports for workers, especially for low-income workers; to address transportation and child care needs; to target specific industries; and to develop new cooperative relationships regionally.

The City is exceeding its five-year economic development goals for number of jobs created and retained; for number of businesses started up, retained and expanded; and for square feet of new and renovated commercial space (and for the lease value of that space). Measuring progress towards goals in the increase of the commercial/industrial tax base and of taxes collected has been complicated by the recent reappraisal.

Out of its current year Community Development Block Grant resources, the City plans to spend $271,500 on economic development activities. Through those CDBG-funded activities, the City hopes to create/retain over 200 jobs; to aid in the start-up of at least 12 new businesses and to retain/expand at least 10 businesses; to provide entrepreneurial training to 30 low- and moderate-income residents; and to work on the commercial redevelopment of at least four Brownfield sites. Major economic development projects include:

• The opening of a new downtown hotel
• Implementation of a plan for helping small businesses access telecom services
• Participating in efforts to begin to implement a regional economic development plan
• Expansion of the Airport Industrial Park and encouraging companies to hire and train low- and moderate-income residents
• Begin construction of the South End Transit Center 
• Redevelopment of the Brownfield south of the Maltex building (former Superfund site)
• Redevelopment of the Bank North property downtown
• Redevelopment of the downtown “Superblock”
• Mixed-use redevelopment of the property at 131 Battery Street
• Assisting expansion/relocation of State Office Buildings downtown and on North Avenue
• Redevelopment of the Moran Plant
• Re-use of the Streets Department property
• Continuing redevelopment of the former Specialty Filaments property
• Transportation infrastructure improvements downtown and on the waterfront
• Site acquisition and planning for a downtown transit center
• Supporting expansion of major employers in the South End, such as Blodgett, Rhino Foods and Burton Snowboards
• Supporting extension of the Renewal Community tax incentives

Social Services

CDBG is essentially the City’s sole revenue source to support social services. The City’s social service objectives are to provide for basic needs; to support families in raising their children, and to support the healthy development of children and youth; to help seniors and people with disabilities live independently; to promote equal access to community resources for all residents; and to promote health, public safety and quality of life. The City’s allocation of resources is directed to meeting the needs of its lowest-income residents.

The City is exceeding its goals for numbers of residents served annually in homeless and housing assistance programs; in food security programs; in senior and child care services; and in health and public safety services. We are slightly behind in our goals for numbers served annually in youth programs. We are exceeding our income-targeting goal, with more than two-thirds of those served meeting the “very low” income criteria.

Out of its current year Community Development Block resources, the City plans to spend $57,650 on housing and homeless services; $12,048 on food security; $15,300 on services for seniors and people with disabilities; $22,000 on child care services; $16,000 on youth services; $3,250 on promoting equal access, especially for refugees and immigrants; and $26,000 on health and public safety services (including the Burlington Neighborhood Project).

With those expenditures and leveraged resources, the City hopes to help provide over 1,100 residents with shelter; to help almost that same number find or retain housing; to help over 5,000 residents access food; to help around 775 seniors and people with disabilities live independently through services (both center-based and in-home) and shared living arrangements; to help families with affordable child care for 103 children; to provide recreation opportunities to over 600 youth; to help 200 refugees and immigrants with literacy services; to help close over 500 residents access prescription drug assistance; to help over 300 victims of sexual assault access support services; and to help empower around 3,000 low-income residents through community organizing and leadership training.

Neighborhood Development, Public Facilities and Public Infrastructure

Finally, the City will spend $96,927 for public and community facilities, public infrastructure and other neighborhood projects, including:

• Transportation infrastructure projects in the downtown area
• Renovations to the Lund Family Center, the Heineberg Senior Center, and the Edmunds Middle School
• Improvements to Baird, Calahan and Pomeroy Parks
• Improvements to the playgrounds at Lawrence Barnes and at Riverside Apartments

Citizen Participation and Consultation

Residents are heavily involved in deciding how the City’s Community Development Block Grant resources will be spent. Since 1983, the City has involved its citizens in its CDBG program through the Neighborhood Planning Assemblies (NPAs), which are semi-autonomous grassroots organizations existing in each of the City’s seven wards.

The City sets aside 5% of its CDBG allocation each year for a Neighborhood Grants program. Residents of low- and moderate-income neighborhoods develop neighborhood improvement projects, bring those projects to their local NPA for review, and then submit them to a Neighborhood Grants Board. Each of the seven ward-based NPAs elects a representative to the Neighborhood Grants Board, and the Mayor sends two representatives. The Community & Economic Development Office holds workshops to help residents develop applications.

All other applications for CDBG funding are reviewed by the CDBG Advisory Board. Each City ward elects a representative to the Advisory Board. Low-income neighborhoods organized through the Burlington Neighborhood Project elect two representatives to the Board. The Mayor sends three representatives, at least one of whom lives in assisted housing. The State and the United Way also send a representative. The members of the Community Development & Neighborhood Revitalization Committee of City Council are non-voting members of the CDBG Advisory Board. CEDO holds workshops for prospective community- and faith-based applicants to help them develop applications.

A list of the funding proposals received each year is published online for public review, and all meetings of the CDBG Advisory Board and the Neighborhood Grants Board are public meetings.  The recommendations of the two Boards become the backbone of the annual Action Plan, which is published online as well as in hard copy for public comment. After the recommendations of the Boards are reviewed by the Mayor, the City holds a public hearing before City Council to hear comments on those recommendations and on the Action Plan, as well as to gather broader input on housing and community development needs. This year, that Public Hearing was held on Monday, April 23, 2007. The City received no public comments on the Action Plan or on housing and community development needs during the Public Hearing and the public comment period.

Due to the unique nature of housing rehabilitation and development, HOME allocations are made by an internal committee made up of Housing Division staff from the Community & Economic Development Office. Applications for assistance from homeowners are accepted on a rolling basis, and funding decisions are based on addressing all Housing Quality Standards violations on the property before any “quality of life” needs are addressed. In an effort to provide critical early commitments of HOME funds for our nonprofit housing development partners, CEDO accepts applications for HOME assistance at the outset of a project. Down payment assistance for 2-4 unit owner-occupied properties is provided at an average amount of $10,000 per building.

The City solicits and receives the input of businesses, developers, and community and faith-based organizations on housing and community development on an ongoing basis through participation in groups such as the Continuum of Care, the Champlain Initiative, the “Housing Gang,” the Refugee and Immigrants Service Provider Network, and the CASH Coalition; through its business-calling program; through participation in the Vermont Interfaith Alliance’s efforts on affordable housing; through the Mayor’s Affordable Housing Taskforce (which included both for-profit and non-profit developers); and through the public hearings held by the City Council’s Super Housing Committee.

Performance Measurement

The Community Development Block Grant program is one that provides a great deal of local flexibility in the use of funds – and the program is valuable because of that very flexibility. At the same time, there is a need for national program accountability. To facilitate the assessment of performance and tracking of results nationally, HUD has adopted a uniform performance measurement system. The new system will allow HUD to aggregate results across the broad spectrum of local programs funded by these block grants so that the impact of housing and community development programs can be measured at the national level.

HUD’s performance measurement system combines the three statutory objectives of the CDBG program - to provide decent housing, to provide a suitable living environment, and to expand economic opportunities - with three outcome categories:

• Availability/Accessibility: This outcome category applies to activities that make services, infrastructure, public services, public facilities, housing, or shelter available or accessible to low-and moderate-income people, including persons with disabilities. In this category, accessibility does not refer only to physical barriers, but also to making the affordable basics of daily living available and accessible to low and moderate income people where they live.
• Affordability: This outcome category applies to activities that provide affordability in a variety of ways in the lives of low- and moderate-income people. It can include the creation or maintenance of affordable housing, basic infrastructure hook-ups, or services such as transportation or day care.
• Sustainability: This outcome applies to projects where the activity or activities are aimed at improving communities or neighborhoods, helping to make them livable or viable by providing benefit to persons of low- and moderate-income or by removing or eliminating slums or blighted areas, through multiple activities or services that sustain communities or neighborhoods.

The table below shows how our local program activities funded in Program Year 2007 are incorporated into the new performance measurement system. (Sometimes, more than one outcome is appropriate for an activity; for purposes of this table, we have chosen the outcome that seems most appropriate overall for the activity. In the Summary of Annual Objectives that follows later in the Action Plan, activities do sometimes appear under more than one outcome category.)

We will continue to use our local performance outcome and output measures to track data and program results that are of concern to us here in Burlington. Those local measures appear at the beginning of the Affordable Housing, Economic Development, Social Services and Neighborhood Development sections of the Action Plan.

Page last updated May 21, 2007