Affordable Housing Taskforce

The Mayor's Affordable Housing Task Force Recommendations and Action Plan are now available.

Summary

In spite of the significant housing accomplishments that the City and its nonprofit and for-profit partners have made over the past two decades, the current housing market is clearly not meeting the need for affordable housing. In response to the current affordable housing crisis, Mayor Peter Clavelle is appointing an Affordable Housing Task Force.

A list of members, meeting agendas and minutes, and summary of 1983 - 2001 progress are available.  For more information, you can also visit the Vermont Housing Awareness Campaign website and review "Out of Reach":  Study Highlights Growing Rental Affordability Gap in Vermont. 

Current and Projected Market Conditions

With the notable exception of the last quarter of 2001 and the first half of 2002, the greater Burlington area has enjoyed unprecedented economic prosperity since the late 1990s.

• During the decade of the 1990s, Chittenden County’s total employment increased by 17,736 jobs (23%).[1]
• The County unemployment rate has hovered at slightly above 2.5%.[2]
• The regional economy is expected to add an estimated 44,250 jobs over the 2000-2010 period.[3]

Against the backdrop of this booming economy is a persistent housing affordability and availability crisis affecting nearly every segment of the population.

• According to a 2000 study of housing availability, “The Northwest region currently has an estimated need for 7,400 additional housing units, … roughly 5,300 units owner housing and 2,100 units of renter housing are needed in the region to help assure a more rational functioning housing market even before considering the housing requirements associated with the projected economic and population growth over the next decade.”[4]
• The rental vacancy rate for Chittenden County has been at or below one percent since 1996, with the combined urban/suburban rate in June of 2001 being 0.3%. [5]
• Apartment rents rose faster than the inflation rate for the second year in a row, rising between 5 percent and 9 percent in 2001.[6]
• Average monthly rents, without utilities, range from $508 for an efficiency, $600 for 1 bedroom, $749 for 2 bedrooms, and $1,039 for 3 bedrooms.
• Average rents in Chittenden County are 28 percent to 40 percent higher than average rents in all other parts of Vermont.[7]
• A recent national study found that Burlington area renters need to earn $15.67 per hour to afford a two-bedroom apartment – an increase of 15.4% over last year, while area median income only increased by 6.6% during the same period.[8]

History of municipal response to housing crisis

On two separate occasions during the 1980s, the City turned to housing task forces to develop solutions to address pressing housing challenges. In 1980, then Mayor Gordon Paquette formed the Mayor’s Housing Task Force to “take the most comprehensive look at the city’s housing problems that has ever been taken”. [9] The Mayor created the task force in response to PACT (People Acting for Change Together), an organized group of renters and other community members that were urging the formation of such a group “to plan and implement ways to solve the housing crisis that is inflicting severe hardship on the city’s low income residents.” Among things, PACT was organizing around the issue of rent control to protect low-income tenants. After 9 months of work, representing 30 meetings and testimony from 25 representatives, the Task Force made the following recommendations:

• Create a Fair Housing Commission with adequate eviction controls
• The University of Vermont should attempt to house 55% of its student body by 1985 and 60% by 1990, in contrast to the present 49%
• Revise City’s master plan with citizen input, with special emphasis on a comprehensive housing plan
• Review and adopt a new building code
• Expand minimum housing inspection staff and provide for stricter enforcement of violations
• Conduct complete review of the Burlington Housing Authority
• Develop an internal system for property reappraisal.

At the urging of the administration of Mayor Bernie Sanders, in June of 1985 the Burlington Board of Alderman (now called City Council) created a 10-member Affordable Housing Task Force to develop a program for affordable housing. The impetus for creating the 1985 Task Force was a series of public debates regarding the adoption of an Inclusionary Zoning ordinance. “While testimony on this proposed ordinance was deeply divided, there was broad general agreement that Burlington has a tight and expensive housing market that limits housing opportunities for all its citizens, but especially for low and moderate income families and renters”. [10] The Task Force met bi-weekly through the fall of 1985 and concluded their deliberations over the winter of 1985-1986. On July 26, 1986, this task force made the following 25 recommendations designed to both create more affordable housing and to preserve the existing stock of affordable units:

• Streamline the Planning & Review process
• Formalize the Technical Review Committee
• Establish a Housing Trust Fund
• Enact Density Bonuses
• Amend zoning ordinance to permit accessory apartments
• Encourage residential conversion of vacant upper story retail space
• Make City-owned land available for affordable housing
• Advocate state enabling legislation to encourage housing cooperatives
• Advocate implementation of a Regional Housing Strategy through CCRPC
• Adopt an ordinance which links major commercial development to affordable housing through the levying of an impact fee
• Adopt an Inclusionary Zoning ordinance that requires 30% of new units be affordable or allows developers to pay in lieu of affordable units
• Restrict office and commercial uses in residential districts
• Adopt Housing Replacement ordinance
• Develop program to retain existing federally-subsidized apartments
• Adopt Condo Conversion ordinance
• Mandatory time of sale inspection of rental units
• Require apartment registration
• Establish landlord/tenant mediation board
• Provide security of tenure/just cause eviction protection
• Increase the housing supply for UVM and Champlain College students
• Enact energy conservation measures/programs
• Pursue alternatives to the property tax
• Enact a real estate speculation tax
• Enact an impact fee ordinance that exempts affordable units
• Provide moral and financial support to ending homelessness

Many of the recommendations that resulted from the work of these two previous task forces have been implemented over the past 20 years; yet many housing needs remain unmet today. As the federal government devotes an increasing share of resources to pressing international affairs, Burlington must develop innovative local solutions to mitigate the harmful effects of a persistent housing crisis on the lives of low and moderate-income residents. While we continue to advocate for a greater regional distribution of affordable housing throughout the County, Burlington will persist to be a national leader in responding to the affordable crisis.

Plan for 2001 Affordable Housing Task Force

The charge of the Task Force is to develop a set of recommendations to the Mayor and City Council that further the following broad housing goals:

1. Produce new affordable housing
2. Preserve the existing affordable housing
3. Protect vulnerable populations
4. Promote affordable homeownership

The Task Force will assess Burlington’s current housing conditions, both market rate housing and publicly-assisted housing units. This will also include a review of the regulatory and administrative impediments to creating more affordable housing. Although the Task Force is charged with focusing their attention on improvements to Burlington’s policies and programs as they impact affordable housing, there should be time devoted to changes needed at the State and regional level to encourage more affordable housing development and preservation throughout the region. The work of this task force will complement and be coordinated with the efforts of the Chittenden County Housing, which is being convened by the Chittenden County Regional Planning Commission.

Tentative Agenda for Task Force

1. Solicit members week of October 29, 2001
2. Mayor announces Task Force on November 5 at 11:00 press conference
3. First Task Force meeting on November 6 at 2:00
4. Meet every three weeks from November through February/March
5. Existing conditions report done by December 15, 2001
6. Public hearings held in December/January
7. Draft/interim report to Mayor by April 1, 2001
8. Final report/recommendations to Mayor and City Council by July 1, 2002