Some good housing news in bad economic times
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Market values and physical deterioration threaten Montpelier’s North Branch project on Elm Street. As it stands, $3.8 million is needed to refurbish the low-income rental units that were built in the early 1990s. Photo provided |
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By SUSAN ALLEN Times Argus Editor - Published: March 2, 2009
MONTPELIER — Times are tough, even for those who help Vermonters in tough times.
While housing costs are down (not as much in Vermont as across the nation, however), more Vermonters are finding themselves out of work and unable to make mortgage or rent payments. In fact, housing advocates agree, some families have dropped any hope of owning a home in this economy and now find themselves scrambling to find an affordable apartment.
"Competition is greater and people with the least means have the hardest time competing," said Gus Seelig, executive director of the Vermont Housing and Conservation Board.
So it was welcome news last week when two key Vermont low-income housing advocacy groups – the board and the Vermont Vermont Housing Finance Agency — were chosen with only 11 others nationally to receive a $2.6 million loan/grant award from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation to help refurbish and preserve assisted rental housing.
"A lot of Section 8 (federally subsidized) housing was built 15 to 35 years ago," said Sarah Carpenter, executive director of the Vermont Housing Finance Agency in a conversation last week that included Seelig and Eileen Peltier of the Central Vermont Community Land Trust.
Carpenter said market values and physical deterioration threaten Vermont's aging subsidized housing stock, adding, "We don't want to lose that housing."
Montpelier's North Branch project on Elm Street is in just such a situation, with Peltier and others raising the capital — $3.8 million — needed to refurbish the low-income rental units that were built in the early 1990s.
The MacArthur money will also help advocates find and share ways of improving energy efficiency in these buildings, which is an economic imperative, according to Peltier. She said with rents kept as low as possible for these tenants, holding down energy costs is vital in ensuring the affordability of the units into the future.
Carpenter said the VHFA is also expecting about $5 million from the newly passed federal stimulus bill to help make up some of the recent market losses, although she noted that the money makes up shortfalls in recent-year funding in reality.
It's also possible some of the energy money and community development funds in the stimulus bill might be used to support — even increase — affordable housing options in Vermont, advocates say.
Seelig said another focus for housing advocates such as himself is to locate more projects in city downtowns and village centers, to both strengthen the economies there and to ensure that affordable housing isn't "gentrified" to the point that only the wealthy can afford the housing.
Again, he points to the North Branch project as proof of the possible. That project has guaranteed affordable housing for residents in Montpelier's downtown.
"We're not just trying to preserve buildings," Seelig said.
Peltier said another important focus for advocates is to work with tenants, homeowners and others to prevent evictions and foreclosures, particularly in this economy. Her advice to anyone worried about losing a job or another financial problem is to call her organization or other advocacy groups, or the mortgage holders as soon as possible to negotiate terms that prevent foreclosure or eviction.
She said renters or homeowners would still owe the full amount of their payments, but might be able to spread those payments out or take other steps to prevent the worst outcome — loss of a home.
So far, she said, evictions from assisted housing haven't increased. But given the ever-worsening economy, most housing economists expect those numbers to climb, particularly this spring.
"Call and let's talk," she said is her advice to people who have lost or might lose their jobs, or for any other reason worry about their ability to meet rent and mortgage payments.
There is an upside to the downturn, Seelig said. Housing is slightly more affordable (although more Vermonters cannot afford even the lower prices), and the cost of labor to do the building and upgrades is cheaper. Peltier said usually about five to seven firms bid on projects; she has 14 planning to bid on North Branch, she said.
"It's the sort of thing that will put people back to work," she said of the housing projects.
Carpenter agreed. She said much of the stimulus money is earmarked for large infrastructure projects — road and bridge repair, for example — which requires training and experience with large machinery. Building and upgrading affordable house, she said, would put more people with fewer skills back to work quickly.
Seelig's organization is facing one other hurdle this year, a proposed 75 percent reduction to his budget by the Douglas administration, from an initial $15 million to just over $4 million. That's a cut that worries housing advocates because the Housing and Conservation Board is often the first "funder" at the table on projects, which then draws other investors needed to turn the project into reality.
And that cut, if approved, would be especially harmful now, he added.
"Investing in housing is great timing when the economy is down."
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