Local Housing Committees in Vermont

• Collaborating with different partners and property owners to crowdsourcing properties to repurpose, sell, develop just like land bank. 
• Created a system for clear communication and meeting scheduling using doodle for scheduling, Google group email for committee updates and YouTube channel to share meetings with the general public and Google drive for document sharing. 
• Organized Housing forum: Needs, trends and opportunities-to gather ideas and analyze and implement with housing and other area through creating working groups in different areas.

Volunteer driven non-profit serving households in Windham County, Vermont and the bordering towns of New Hampshire with the goal to "increase, improve and maintain housing that is available to those in need." With no paid staff, all programs are administered by volunteers. Programs include:

• Apartments-in-Homes
• Home Improvement Program
• Creative Community Housing Program

• Established two warming shelters in the region before COVID. 
• Brattleboro town removed density cap in residential housing. 
• Brattleboro town reduced development review process.

Housing-focused division of the City of Burlington Community & Economic Development Office (CEDO). Programs and resources include:

• BIPOC affordable home ownership program.
• Conducted Housing Summit to explore challenges and opportunities
• Inclusionary Zoning to ensure inclusive and affordable housing
• ADU resources
• Low interest loan for home repair
• Landlord assistance program
• Access modification grants

Key activities include:

• Meeting other housing groups, learning about different aspects of zoning and planning.
• Planning outreach campaign to the community, including opportunities for landlords, business owners, renters and those living or working in Essex.
• Housing Needs Assessment completed.
• Created different working groups for different activities, such as story sharing conversations and Outreach, Housing Trust Fund, Zoning issues

Key activities include:

• Accessory Apartment ADU video, Inclusionary Zoning, energy audit and retrofits at several mobile homes in Mountain View MHP, participated in Sunny Acres MHP becoming a coop.
• Did Housing Needs Assessment in 2017, encouraged Select Board to seek VCDP funding for Kelley’s Field improvements, providing input to DRB on several large scale housing developments public to promote ADU.

Advice to other housing committees:

• Gauge interest from the municipal governing body and if supportive, work with planning and zoning to get the idea started. Appoint committee members with housing interest and other skills such as finance, real estate, legal etc. Meet with the housing organizations at local, regional and state level to learn the lay of the housing land.

Key activities include:

• Conducted ADU survey in 2021 to know owners and renters perspective
• Plans to conduct public forum and outreach to landowners and developers about affordable housing opportunities

The Keys to the Valley Initiative was undertaken by three regional planning commissions – the Upper Valley Lake Sunapee Regional Planning Commission of New Hampshire, and the Two Rivers-Ottauquechee Regional and Mount Ascutney Regional Commissions of Vermont. The three commissions, called the “Tri-Commission”, cover 67 communities on both sides of the Connecticut River of the greater Upper Valley.

Vermont Communities – Andover, Baltimore, Barnard, Bethel, Bradford, Braintree, Bridgewater, Brookfield, Cavendish, Chelsea, Chester, Corinth, Fairlee, Granville, Hancock, Hartford, Hartland, Ludlow, Newbury, Norwich, Pittsfield, Plymouth, Pomfret, Randolph, Reading, Rochester, Royalton, Sharon, Springfield, Stockbridge, Strafford, Thetford, Topsham, Tunbridge, Vershire, Weathersfield, West Fairlee, West Windsor, Windsor, and Woodstock.

Key activities include:

• Ongoing land banking, Affordable land initiative.
• Incentivizes homeowner’s construction of ADUs through grant and free professional services throughout permitting, design and development. In exchange, ADUs remain affordable for 5 years.
• Developed a guide booklet to creating and renting ADUs.

Key activities include:

• Flexibility in the design, height and density of affordable housing projects
• Encourages senior and workforce developers through density bonus

Officially established by the Montpelier City Council on May 11, 2022. The Housing Committee’s mission is to "evaluate housing-related information and propose solutions to the City Council that address identified problems". The Housing Committee also works to educate the public about Montpelier’s housing situation and to advocate for policies and proposals that further the goals of the City’s Master Plan. The official committee is preceded by the Montpelier Housing Task Force, which acted between 1999 and 2022.

Key activities include:

• Creating affordable and energy efficient housing revolving fund.
• Use of Town owned and donated lands for affordable housing construction.
• Increase rental housing stock through ADUs and making density bonus.
• Promote “missing middle housing”-duplexes, triplexes, quadraplexes.

Key activities include:

• Planning to outsource ADU to a nonprofit that can help homeowners with design, finance, permitting, contractor, tenant selection, etc. with loans that could partially forgive of the homeowner follows certain conditions that rental unit be affordable.
• The idea is that the nonprofit (like Woodstock Comm. Trust) does the grunt work, helping the home owner with initial design, finances, permitting, compliance, getting a contractor, and tenant selection, sort of “holding the hand” of the home owner.
• Best financing system is a loan (not grant) which is secured by the house itself; this loan could be partly forgiven if the home owner follows certain conditions. 

The Housing Committee advises the Selectboard, the Planning Commission, and Town Staff on the housing needs of the Town of Richmond. The Housing Committee is responsible for gathering the community’s demographic information and housing data, generating housing-policy related ideas and concepts, ensuring that housing is made available for all protected classes—including race, color, religion, national origin, sex, disability, family status, marital status, age, gender identity, sexual orientation, receipt of public assistance, as well as abuse, sexual assault, or stalking victims—and educating the community on housing-related issues.

The Shelburne Housing Committee was created in 2016 as a subcommittee of the Shelburne Planning Commission. Its goal is to collect, organize, and analyze data in order to most effectively advise the town’s Planning Commission on the creation of more affordable housing. 

Key activities include:

• Inclusionary zoning in transit district and expanding to city-wide in 2021.
• Working on recommendations that the city focus on equity and diversity as well as affordability.
• Planning to use Trust Fund for inclusionary zoning.
• Re-purposing land and commercial house for residential.

One of the local housing coalitions, or local Continua of Care (CoCs) tasked with administering homelessness services locally throughout Vermont. Serving Windsor County towns of Andover, Baltimore, Cavendish, Chester, Ludlow, Plymouth, Reading, Springfield, Weathersfield, Weston, West Windsor, and Windsor; and Windham County towns of Grafton, Londonderry, Rockingham and Windham 

The Thetford Housing Committee plans to focus on promoting housing that supports current residents and people who wish to join our community. Originally founded as the Senior and Affordable Housing Committee of Thetford

At their June 28, 2023 meeting, the Selectboard approved establishing a Williston Housing Committee to further the goal of providing housing in Williston that is affordable to households across a broad range of income levels, including people with low- and moderate-income levels (affordable housing).

The Committee has an advisory role concerning the use of the Housing Trust Fund. The Committee will advise the Planning Commission concerning housing policy for land use and will take an active lead in delivering community engagement and outreach regarding housing issues.

The Winooski Housing Commission serves to advise the City Council on implementing the Housing section of the City’s Strategic Vision, where Winooski will "ensure a mix of quality housing that maintains and enhances Winooski’s unique sense of place and supports the needs of the entire community". 

Key activities include:

• Established housing goals for the Winooski Master Plan, identified gaps in available housing in Winooski and set targets to fill those gaps.
• Established a Housing Trust Fund. 
• Held a housing policy summit hosting housing experts to discuss housing policy options for the community.
• Annually reviews gentrification monitoring report and the landlord registry rental pricing survey.
• Made recommendations to the Planning Commission for policy changes to promote creation of affordable housing.
• Providing interpreted homeownership and down payment outreach education to promote Champlain Housing Trust, AALV and VHFA activities.
• Advocating on how to use Section 8 voucher for homeownership.
• Advocating on reducing parking lot and density for multifamily unit projects.

Key activities include:

• Incentivizing landlords to move from short term to long term rentals
• Promoting Home Share, Mobile Home Parks
• Incentivize landlords to create and make ADUs affordable for 5 years.
• Promoting employer provided housing.
• Parking lot reduction.