This story by Aaron Calvin was first published in the News & Citizen on July 31.
Lamoille County’s new affordable housing nonprofit has spent the last seven months settling into its new role as some towns look for assistance in addressing the ongoing housing crisis.
Downstreet Housing and Community Development, the Washington County-based nonprofit has taken over an array of affordable housing properties previously overseen by Lamoille Housing Partnership in Cambridge, Johnson, Morrisville and Stowe, even as the full merger of the organizations is not yet completed.
The merger should be finalized in September, according to Downstreet executive director Angie Harbin. In anticipation of the resolution, the organization has added three seats to its board.
Even as the nonprofit sets up in the county, the need for its services have grown.
“Just like the entire state, Lamoille County needs more affordable housing,” Harbin said. “There’s probably not a community in Vermont right now where that’s not true.”
A statewide housing assessment conducted by the Vermont Housing Finance Agency published earlier this year said that 13% of the county’s rental stock was built with public funding, and 6% of that rental housing is available with income-sensitive rental assistance. That same report identified a third of Lamoille County occupied households as cost-burdened, where residents use more than 30% of their annual household income on housing.
Though no specific projects have been announced, towns particularly eager to expand or replace their affordable housing, like Johnson and Stowe, have begun identifying Downstreet as a potential partner in that effort.
Part of the incentive for the merger, outside of the leadership vacuum at Lamoille Housing Partnership, was Downstreet’s size — roughly double the Partnership — and thus capacity to access more federal funding and expand faster.
In Stowe, where committees are exploring potential solutions to the lack of accessible housing, town officials identified Downstreet as a potential partner that could operate and administer housing through a a community trust fund, according to a recently published housing needs assessment.
In Johnson, DEW Construction has proposed a project like the one it oversees in Barre by coordinating with Downstreet on the grant-funded construction of housing on town-owned land. The nonprofit and builder could potentially build a mix of housing types, including single-family, owner-occupied and mixed-use rentals.
The town is hoping to potentially move quickly to take advantage of $67 million in community development funds recently announced by the Agency of Commerce and Community Development, which are intended to assist communities hardest hit by the July 2023 flood. “A majority of funding will be focused on creating new housing units outside of flood plains and supporting infrastructure in the identified regions,” according to an agency press release.
“Not only are we operating existing affordable housing in Lamoille County but also making sure that we have the capacity to continue to develop there,” Harbin, the Downstreet executive director, said, noting that the group is currently exploring some properties in Johnson. “We are really committed to making sure that there’s at least one housing project that’s utilizing that (block grant) funding. We’re generally exploring real estate development opportunities in Lamoille County.”
Downstreet, like other affordable housing developers, is attempting to balance demand and funding. The Vermont Housing and Conservation Board is no longer replete with pandemic-era money, and there is now a great deal of uncertainty around federal funds amid the disruption of the Trump administration.
“We were seeing pretty significant cuts at the state level, because there has been so much Covid-era funding that was winding down, so we’re already looking at far fewer affordable housing projects developed across the state, and then there’s the federal funding,” Harbin said. “We don’t have a clear idea what’s going to happen or what’s going to be cut as at this point.”
Evictions avoided
The transfer of properties from the Lamoille Housing Partnership portfolio hasn’t been without its share of hiccups, particularly for a Jeffersonville property with a history of management issues.
Last October, just as Downstreet was about to take over management of the building, the Mann’s Meadow senior housing apartment complex was beset by a disabled elevator, stranding some of the less mobile residents on the upper floors of the building. At the time, Harbin requested patience as the nonprofit assessed each property and its maintenance needs.
Several residents at Mann’s Meadow recently received “notice to terminate tenancy” letters and warnings despite not owing any back rent. The notice was concerning enough to tenants that they reached out to the Cambridge Selectboard for help.
By the time selectboard members could inquire about the issue, according to a discussion at the board’s July 15 meeting, it had already been resolved. Downstreet had received incomplete information from the building’s former property management company, according to Harbin.
The former company abruptly ended its property management services at Mann’s Meadow, and transitioning to a new property management system quickly proved tricky.
“It’s a very alarming (notification) to receive, and we also weren’t aware that the previous property management company wasn’t using this type of notification, because it is typical all over the state,” Harbin said. “All of that has been straightened out, which is great, and we’ve been leasing up units right now, some at a bit of a clip, as we’ve been turning them over, getting them ready to lease up and then moving new folks in.”
