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

HOME OWNERSHIP OPPORTUNITIES
Sarah and Chris Orndorff had done
the same. They applied to Green Mountain
Habitat for Humanity two summers
ago, “just to see what would happen,”
says Sarah, whose husband works for
DR Power Equipment in Shelburne.
Last spring, both families learned
they had been approved for two new
homes that Green Mountain Habitat
would start building in the summer on
Venus Avenue, a residential cul de sac in
Burlington’s New North End.
For the Habitat chapter, the start of
that “build” was itself the fruition of a
very long, very expensive campaign.
“The project has actually been more
than 12 years in the works. It’s been in
permitting and appeal for that period
of time,” says David Mullin, executive
director of Green Mountain Habitat for
Humanity. Habitat and the Burlington
Housing Authority (BHA) invested a
total of over 100,000 in reengineering
and legal fees after now-former neighbors
of the project objected.
The BHA donated land for four
single-family Habitat homes on Venus
Avenue; Habitat plans to build the third
and fourth in 2006.
“Paul Dettman from the BHA really
was the spearhead for this,” Mullin says.
“Had it not been for him and his efforts,
we would not have had this affordable
housing where it is.
“That’s what it takes today — that
persistence,” he adds. “There are no
more pretty little square lots sitting there
waiting, at an affordable price. You have
to get creative and be persistent, to make
affordable housing happen.”
Thanks to those efforts, Lessor and
the Orndorffs joined dozens of Habitat
volunteers this year in working on their
homes. Both have put in hundreds of
hours of sweat equity, many more than
are required of the new homeowners by
Habitat. Lessor, who runs a snack bar at
the Leddy Park skating rink for the city,
adds up 713 hours invested by herself,
her family, friends, and coworkers.
“I’ll tell you,” she says. “I’ve had tremendous
support.”
Says Sarah Orndorff, “We’ve shoveled
rocks, pounded nails, raised walls,
we put the roof on. The only thing we
don’t do is the electrical or the plumbing.”
Most impressive to the Orndorffs
was the Habitat volunteers. “The first
day we were there,” Sarah says, “it was
95 degrees — and there were 10 people
shoveling rocks.”
Asked what this project means to
her family, Sarah Orndorff struggles to
contain her upwelling emotions.
“It’s the chance to put down roots,”
she finally says. “And knowing that we
have a safe place for our family.”
“That’s what it takes
today — that persistence.
There are no more
pretty little square lots
sitting there waiting,
at an affordable price.
You have to get creative
and be persistent, to
make affordable housing
happen.”
— David Mullin,
Green Mountain
Habitat for Humanity
16
On the Venus Avenue Habitat site
in Burlington, Governor Douglas is
joined by volunteers from Coldwell
Banker Hickok & Boardman Realty,
a sponsor of the house.