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

“These are people
who are very engaged
in the town, but
couldn’t afford to
live here. That really
started the idea that
we needed to work
together, and we
needed to work with
the other churches.
We needed to make
something happen.”
— Rosalyn Graham
Member, Methodist
Church Mission
Committee
Graham said the director of the
local food shelf “came to the Mission
Committee and said, ‘You have no
idea what life is like for some people
in this town.’”
Even though Shelburne is an affluent
community, the food shelf director,
Val Martel, had seen a different
side. “She was able to make us aware
of the fact that there are people who
live in terrible housing conditions
— living in apartments heated by
keeping the oven on, and old, dilapidated
houses,” Graham said.
That led the committee to survey
the town on its housing needs. The
effort found two main areas of need:
elders still living in deteriorated family
homes, and people working in local
jobs that pay modest salaries, such
as the fire department, police, and
schools.
“These are people who are very engaged
in the town, but couldn’t afford
to live here,” Graham said. “That really
started the idea that we needed to
work together, and we needed to work
with the other churches. We needed to
make something happen.”
They did just that. Members of
three churches formed the Shelburne
Interfaith Housing Committee, and
spurred LCHDC to develop the plan
for nine duplex structures on Shelburne
Road.
“It’s a totally new neighborhood
— a circle, with the buildings around
it and a green in the middle,” says
resident Stephanie Spaulding, a former
local innkeeper.
As plans for that project took
shape, townspeople asked that the
Noonan House, a century-old home in
the village center that was scheduled
for demolition, be included. Today,
along with two affordable apartments
upstairs, the Noonan House has a new
resale shop that benefits SCHIP, the
Shelburne, Charlotte, Hinesburg Interfaith
Project, a non-profit effort by 10
faith communities in the three towns.
Several years ago, an affordablehousing
proposal in town was stopped
by local opposition. But this time, said
Graham, “because the churches were
involved, there was a much larger
body of people saying, ‘Hey, I’m on
this committee, and I think this is a
great idea.”
“It wasn’t just a tacit acceptance of
us coming in,” said Powell of LCHDC.
“It was actually asking us in, and coming
to the meetings and being a vocal
proponent of the project.”
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“The interfaith group came out and really
championed the endeavor, all the way through the
permitting process. That made a huge difference;
they were very instrumental in getting the mood of
this community to accept this affordable housing.”
—LCHDC Executive Director John Powell