Vermont Housing Conservation Board 2005 - Vermont Housing and ...

HOMELESS SHELTERS & TRANSITIONAL HOUSING
Assisting Vermont’s Most Vulnerable
Citizens
GROVE STREET TRANSITIONAL HOUSING, RUTLAND
The four apartments at 82 Grove Street in Rutland provide far more than just
a roof over the heads of the struggling families who live there. The housing
program also offers training, support and community for the residents as they
move from homeless shelters to homes.
Three years in the making, the facility offers a variety of programs — from
nutritional training to credit counseling — designed to make the time spent
there a true transition, said Caprice Hover, executive director of the Rutland
Housing Coalition.
“Sometimes you just move folks from a shelter to housing, there’s no way to
avoid it,” she said. “But without the support stuff, they don’t learn how to avoid
the crises that can snowball.”
Through monthly group sessions and individual meetings with the caseworkers,
who will serve the residents, Hover said she hopes to give the program participants
a path to break the cycle of homelessness, even to the point of helping them
purchase a house of their own.
“It may take a couple of years for them to work on their credit, but the (state
Housing Authority) vouchers help them have that dream,” Hover said. “. . . That
can be a huge benefit to them, especially large families. A three-bedroom apartment
can cost 900 to 1,000 per month in rent. That’s a mortgage, more than a
mortgage actually.”
At a ceremonial opening of the facility, Richard Williams, executive director of
the Vermont State Housing Authority said the Grove Street building was a small
but promising start.
“The average cost of
a two-bedroom apartment
in Vermont is
$698. To afford this rent
level requires an annual
income of $27,924.
Unfortunately, 60% of
Vermont’s workforce is
employed in jobs whose
median wages fall well
below that level.
— Rita Markley,
Executive Director of COTS
(The Committee on
Temporary Shelter)
10
At 82 Grove Street, the Rutland
County Housing Coalition provides
training, support and a sense of
community to the residents in four
transitional housing apartments.
Residents can stay from 6-18
months, or longer as necessary, while
they stabilize fi nances, develop life
skills and fi nd longer term housing.