 Before we start let me just share with you what I had in mind and that is I think that the Document that we present to you today is self-explanatory and has Far more information than you could possibly digest in a day But has everything you need to know about the city's affordable housing policy What I intended to do is offer a few opening remarks And then give you the opportunity to either question me or any of the collaborators here But rather than everyone speaking at the front end. I think they take a respond to questions that you might have on a specific issue I think that works best for me if it works best for you But before we go ahead, maybe the collaborators could introduce themselves. I Think most people know other people, but why don't we read it just begin with a little introduction My trust I'm Tom Dylan. I'm the housing development coordinator for the city Good morning, I'm Ken Sasseros, and I work for Lake Champlain The message that we want to deliver to you today is that we Have at our doorstep an affordable housing crisis This is not simply a crisis in Burlington This is a affordable housing crisis that threatens every community in the state and in this country And threatens the social and economic well-being of millions of low and moderate-income citizens You might ask the question why now well much of this is being driven by dramatic cutbacks in federal support for affordable housing Since 1979 Housing programs have been cut by 656 billion dollars We are now seeing the largest affordable housing gap in this country in our history 20 years ago There was more affordable housing available than people needing them Today this varies from community community, but on a national level today There are two families in need of affordable low-income housing units for every unit that's available We're also seen as Rita could certainly attest to Many of us could a dramatic increase in homelessness not only in Burlington, but in cities across this country So a couple of affordable housing crisis in the cutbacks in funding with welfare reform With a global economy that's creating low-wage jobs and is making it more difficult for folks to pay the rent and secure a mortgage And we have a serious problem Before we go on to discuss that problem Let me also acknowledge that we have much to be proud of in the city of Burlington Over the fact over the past 15 years. We've created in Burlington an affordable housing record that frankly few communities can match In the city of Burlington today, there are more than 1900 affordable housing units But the message today is that many of those units and the people that live in them are at risk And while we're proud of our accomplishments and will continue to be Incredibly creative in the city in terms of in terms of responding to the affordable housing crisis we face an Enormous challenge I'm committed to maintaining the city's commitment to producing more affordable housing units to preserving the affordable housing units that exist Interprotecting a more vulnerable residents particularly rent renters elderly And members of our community that have disabilities I'm also here to acknowledge very clearly that the city of Burlington alone cannot respond to this challenge That we need the support of the state We need the support of nonprofit agencies many of them represented here today We need the support of homeowners of renters of banks. We need the broad support of community of community And I'm pleased in Burlington, Vermont in 1997 by and large we have that support So the primary purpose of today's press conference is to present to you a policy that will guide our efforts As we move towards the next Millennium and this policy recognizes our position as a community our perspective The decent affordable safe housing is a basic right It's also a policy that reaffirms Burlington's strategy of creating a housing tenure ladder You've probably heard of us speak of this ladder, but it's in the last page of the policy document but it provides a range of Responses to housing needs That began with the bottom rung of Shelter housing and continue up the ladder So you have fee simple ownership of housing with many steps and rungs of the ladder in between This is fairly unique the strategy this approach That we here in Burlington have embraced It's a strategy that Guarantees the right to stay put and it also assures the chance to move Well this policy that you have before us today also reiterates The vital role that the third sector plays in delivering affordable housing and maintaining affordable housing in the city We cannot do what we've done without the third sector and the third sector is that rich a Ray of nonprofit organizations represented at this table there are few that aren't here That have played a critically important role in producing and preserving affordable housing and protecting residents Also in this policy you'll see that we've set some goals For the next year for the next few years And those are quite specific goals. We've also identified short-term actions that must be taken This policy also spells out the threat of this affordable housing crisis to low-income households It also looks at what's happening and what's not happening at the state and the federal level We've done our best to identify resources based on experience and past years We hope That nearly seven million dollars will be available in the coming year for investment in multifamily housing But this is a very dynamic and volatile Situation there are changes taking place every day as a result of federal actions and state actions So this is not money that we can bank on but based on our past experience It's a level of resources that we expect will be received But I also want to point out to you that this is not an esoteric Public policy discussion When you speak about affordable housing Those of you that are at the city council meeting on Monday night heard this You're talking about real people real needs and Real responses from the city and the nonprofit agencies that we work with With We've presented some long-term strategies, but we've also identified some short-term needs Let me just suggest and I hesitate to do this because to elevate any need Would suggest that this is the only need this is the only project But let me just suggest to you a couple of examples of the urgency of the situation that we're dealing with Right down the street from here at 101 College Street There are 65 units of subsidized housing primarily occupied by the elderly At the end of June of this year the owner's responsibility to maintain those units as subsidized affordable housing expires So it's possible That those 65 units of affordable housing could be lost to the housing stock of this city and 65 Households that have a roof over their head and rent that they that they could afford could be put out of that housing So our challenge is to work with the owner of this property To work through the Burlington Housing Authority To develop a long-term response which will secure those affordable housing units over the long haul another challenge immediately Many of the 1900 Affordable housing units in the city are made affordable as a result of what's called a section 8 certificate or voucher These commitments these rental subsidies from the federal government used to be made available for the long term No longer Many of the vouchers and certificates that are available today Are available for a year on a year-to-year basis? Obviously creating some challenges in terms of long-term security Another immediate need And Rita could certainly speak to this relates to homelessness We are seeing people stay longer in the homeless shelters The folks that are providing services to Burlington's homeless population certainly have their hands full But they're also facing a serious reduction in The programs and in the financial resources available to meet the needs of our homeless population Ironically the programs That are designed to get people out of the shelters And into permanent affordable housing and into a work situation are the ones that are being cut So I'm going to stop there, but the point today is that in recent months and years We have not seen many headlines About affordable housing We have not heard much public discussion about affordable housing And while things are have been apparently quiet that is not to indicate That all as well. We have some humongous challenges before us in terms of producing more affordable housing Preserving what we have in protecting the vulnerable of the city Burlington will respond In a manner that will be more aggressive and more creative than any community in This country, but I need to tell you that we will have our hands full and responding to this need Given factors many of which are out of our control particularly federal funding cutbacks I'm going to open up for questions, but I will also would ask that you feel free to address your questions to other individuals In general the definition Most widely used is that no more than 30% of a household's income should be used for their rent and utilities Various funders then take that and say it needs to be affordable to a certain income level at at that amount of expenditure, so Unfortunately, they don't all agree on just what that should be the Most critical issue in our community is to see the households who are at 30% of median income And when we're talking about that we're talking about folks making above the minimum wage in jobs Often it's more than one job Often it's seasonal work, but in fact, that's the critical affordability gap right now Someone makes $10,000 a year If you want to stick with poverty level Certainly There isn't one answer it isn't one kind of housing and isn't one level of income and that's the whole issue What we're dealing with our job here in the nonprofit sector and at the community level is everybody who can't afford The market rate with the going market rate works in the market for people whose income matches that market Our job is for everybody who has a gap Between what their earnings are what their benefits are perhaps and what the market charges And we have to fill that gap to grant funds rental assistance so on and so forth So it goes all the way down the line from if you have an income of 10,000 if you have an income of 25,000 through the land trust you may be able to buy a condominium But that's a figure that you know and below that we really couldn't help them The average rent for a two-bedroom Without utilities is close to $600 So we're dealing with everybody that's a big chunk of money for a lot of most of the folks we serve The the point of the housing tenure ladder is to recognize that that a healthy Situation or system for affordable housing Addresses a wide range of needs the needs of elders are very different than the needs of young families The needs of people who have recently been homeless are different still The needs of folks who intend to remain in their home that same home for the rest of their lives It's very different from a household that may expect to move again within a reasonable period of time in trying to build the system we're trying to hit all the rungs and That's why there isn't one answer there isn't one family out there in Burlington And there isn't one housing solution for everyone in Burlington and the system tries to do it for everybody The idea is that there is a diversity of needs and there is a There is possible it's possible to have a diversity of the amount of responsibility and ownership that one takes in housing so It looks at The issue of tenure meaning do you own your home? Do you or do you rent it? Do you have control of the future of that housing or do you not and? It says that there are a number of different combinations and steps so one That everybody knows is just renting you don't own the housing. You don't have control of its future You don't necessarily have control of the ability to remain there after your your lease expires at the other end We all know ownership we own the place we can stay as long as we as we want We can change it in any way any way we wish within the law In but we're trying to create steps in between to allow a situation where one shares some of those rights and responsibilities The land trust is is the best known example where the land trust retains ownership of the land The house belongs to the homeowner in return There's a sharing of the equity the future appreciation of that property by doing that we're able to reach Households that would not otherwise have any chance at ownership instead that they're able to participate in ownership through a land trust Co-ops take that a step further and we've tried to fill in those gaps So that everybody has an opportunity to continue to move up to not be stuck in a situation where you only can rent or only can buy It creates it assists in creating the organizations that provide those options You can't have land trust housing without a healthy land trust You can't have the opportunities to move from shelter to transitional housing to assisted living without having Cots and Cathedral Square and Lake Champlain housing out there to manage and create those opportunities We already have those agencies that's why I'm not sure I understand what policy does We have those agencies what you need to understand is that the very existence of the agencies and The housing that they have been able to provide over the years is threatened By a variety of forces most significantly the dramatic cutbacks in federal funds so the point here today is To Allow the community to know That we are faced with a crisis and to mobilize the resources of the community and to reaffirm the commitment of this community to deal with affordable housing and the policy in part reaffirms the strategies of the past Much of this policy has the fingerprints of John Davis on it John Davis My opinion is one of the finest minds in this country when it comes to affordable housing policy He did much work in the city over a decade to establish and to build This housing tenure ladder in coordination with other folks here But our challenge now is to maintain this ladder At a time when the resources are drying up But also as the policy indicates there are a number of specific projects that we will be targeting our resources to So this document identifies what those projects are Point-by-point short term action. So this is not again a necessary policy document But this lays it right out. This is where we're going to be spending our resources for the next year items 1 through 33 Not necessarily an order of priority No question, this may not be totally related, but how do you feel about rent control? That's my first question. And also there has been some rumor of a possibility of Section 8 vouchers and certificates being used to purchase mortgages Of course, that would come from the federal put I was wondering if there would be any type of activity to support that As well as rent control I mean in terms of rent control and this is an issue that's been discussed and debated in the past There are mixed reviews in terms of the effectiveness of rent control and you pick up the New York Times any day of the week And you can read of that. There's also a question If the political will and this community exists for rent control and it certainly has not been the case in the past In terms of Section 8 vouchers, your specific question was Well, the specific question is that would that be something like say the Burlington Housing Authority would support if there was a bill or any type of legislation to move forward to allow Section 8 certificate vouchers certificates and vouchers to purchase mortgages If that even could be something for my interest What we're not interested in doing and I'll be very honest with you is is is to privatize a very limited and precious stock of public housing And that's indicated in the in the in the housing policy I Let you finish this question then I'll ask it the purpose here is for a press conference And those of you that are non-press members if you'd like to have this discussion before or after or any time Fine, but if we could allow the press to raise their issues first before we lose them Appreciate that but Paul do you want to speak to the specific question? Yes, I can speak to that. I think Jackie that The expansion in the use of section 8 is consistent with the housing tenure concept where we're supporting folks Moving from rental housing to homeownership that they want to so this is it's a federal This is a federal question. It's a regulatory question and the Burlington Housing Authority would certainly support an initiative that would allow Section 8 recipients to utilize their subsidy as a transition mechanism to homeownership If you can create the 100 new housing units in two years from existing units are you There's new construction I Mean it's a real objective. It's measurable, but does that solve the problem? Absolutely not the way to think about it in terms of goals and short-term actions is it's been decades that brought us to this point and It will be many years of steady progress and building on a system that works that solves the problem I think the hundred units is doable. I think that there are sites that are available within the city limits that Participate in creating new family units and that we're going to go for it The goals and the objectives that we lay out here are feasible. Absolutely. I mean, they're they will be incredibly challenging, but they are feasible Let me make another point that I did not address in my remarks, but I don't want to miss the opportunity to do so And that is that Burlington alone cannot address this region's affordable housing shortage That there are communities in this region that have people that need affordable housing that have not accepted the responsibility of providing affordable housing So I'm hopeful that among other things that this press conference today will tweak the interests the conscience of residents and fellow public officials and communities across the state of Vermont everybody needs to do their share Burlington for decades now has assumed a Responsibility of providing and preserving affordable housing Others need to join us in meeting this challenge The reality is that market rate housing does not meet the needs of many many many Vermont residents And this is true of residents in Williston in South Burlington in Jericho in Shelburne and I urge Residents from throughout this region To examine what their community has done and asked what more might we do? 31 One two thirty three minutes a lot and it encompasses a lot of different things Is this all doable Everything Lots of loan money to rehab you know apartments to build new homes to I think is indicated This is a couple of your strategy that will roll that they will be rolling out, but it's a very ambitious strategy No question about it. This is a very ambitious strategy But we think that it is doable We've established some benchmarks some standards to to strive to achieve and we'll do our best With the resources that we have And we'll be chasing down every resource that both the state and the federal level to make this happen Suffice it to say this is not going to happen If it's dependent upon property tax dollars to support it We need help from the feds from the state from our local financial institutions How does this affect people who are renters who are not on? subsidized housing, I mean or is it just for people, you know housing is expensive Kind of a trickle-down effect Who are subsidies are in other apartments that people like myself could be in and if they're in a different Apartment, then there's more for other people taking us full circle to the beginning, which is why we said there isn't one affordability gap and The reason we have the housing tenure ladder some people need assistance to get into homeownership Be it condor or single family some people Need assistance just to afford a rent so yes We have assistance for folks at all all levels of income and that's why you see a broad range of goals all 33 All those goals are based on funds that we anticipate this year many of those projects are in the pipeline Are already underway those are certain to come to pass in the next two years We hope at the end of the next of those two years that those kinds of resources will still be available to continue But a hundred units over two years does not replace what we've lost in units that are affordable to people So we're talking about keeping pace and that's why in spite of what looks like an ambitious agenda What's missing is we lost 50 units of affordable housing in a fire here So we're replacing two times what we lost there and So your housing is something that deteriorates over time and it constantly has to be reinvested it So a city even that had all high income would have to constantly reinvest in its housing stock So this ambitious schedule is what we're trying to do to keep keep pace with a bit very big need And we're trying to point out to you also the things that we can't Reach and let me also point out if you look carefully At these actions, this is not simply about subsidizing people's rents I mean there are actions here which make Burlington a more livable community for all of us that deal with minimum housing enforcement Zoning enforcement that deal with providing home ownership opportunities So again, we're attempting to address the broad range of housing needs and if we're successful in doing so This will be a better community For all residents of Burlington from the richest to those that are homeless. This is important critically important To everyone that lives in this city Mary says this is an ambitious plan and you get any help from a lot of organizations so far Who has committed who do you have commitments from in this effort right now? Well again Burlington's approach to affordable housing Has been a collaborative approach The city is Brian large not the direct provider of services The city works in collaboration with a range of nonprofit organizations represented at this table With the Burlington Housing Authority with the Vermont Housing Finance Agency With a nonprofit developer known as housing Vermont that is not here today with the housing conservation trust fund These are among our partners. So this is very much a collaborative effort Where the greatest pinch is coming from it's from the cutbacks in the in federal commitment to housing the federal government over the past 20 years is essentially turned its back on the affordable housing needs of communities and long-moderate income citizens and That's saying go chickens are coming home to roost But we're seeing the impact of it. This is not something that happened overnight. This has been a very Gradual erosion of the federal commitment to affordable housing that was ignited by Ronald Reagan But it has continued unabated through the first term of Bill Clinton Absolutely not that's why we have a crisis if we had the commitments that were necessary to address The affordable housing needs of this country. We would not have a crisis. We do not have the commitments necessary We have an action plan which Attempts to be pragmatic In attempts to match the proposed actions Were the reasonable expectation for commitments, but even if every action that's listed here the 33 actions that are listed here Were complete. We would still have Unaffordable housing gap in this community. Let us recognize that Peter I'm trying to get some idea of how big Other problem this is in Burlington the breadth of this crisis Do you have any idea how many people are affected by this? How many people can not find affordable housing right now? But first of all the 40 there's 40,000 people in Burlington that are affected by the affordable housing crisis There are 1900 Households that are more specifically affected because they are living in a unit That is affordable through one mechanism or another in this housing tenure ladder But there are also many people Who are waiting for affordable housing supports Don't get back to the waiting list as an indicator with the Burlington housing authority Which is only one of many waiting lists for affordable housing So the section 8 program the waiting list now is approximately 1200 households Oh, sorry What's the average weight Five years It varies to some degree So one could number 1200 on the list five years back to What about some of the other agencies Rita speak to the uh the pressure at the homeless shelters We've had a dramatic increase in the number of homeless families on our waiting list On our waiting list Last month there were 15 families, which is the highest number we've ever had in the history of cots and what's driving that Is that even when the people in the shelter have saved up enough for the first month's rent and security deposit It's taking them three times as long To find an apartment that they can afford As it did this time last year so for families were seeing it and then Right now I know of six individuals Who have a voucher in hand from bha? And they still can't find an apartment that they can afford within the range of the voucher guideline So We're seeing our numbers go up Sarah, what's the waiting list for sustainable square? I think our current waiting list is probably about 75 folks And I did want to make one comment. I think we're going to see that grow As a result of some state policies which are generally good policies last year the legislature passed something called act 160 Which was an attempt to Ship medicaid dollars into community-based services That's a great move, but It's gonna essentially it's as we call it in the industry. It's de institutionalizing the elderly It's moving them out of nursing homes into community-based alternatives And I think increasingly in addition to the the independent and healthy elders waiting for affordable housing We're going to see a big increase in more frail elders Who will need a safe and secure environment? Like a housing project in which they can receive Community-based services. So I think we're we're going to see an additional impact Coming our way in the next year as the state policies around reducing resources for skilled beds Comes up We're also seeing it catheter square has been moving into assisting Folks with other kinds of disabilities. We just opened a project last week For 16 folks with psychiatric disabilities. It was Filled like that. I mean there there's just It took about half a day discussion with how our center for human services to fill that And while I can't quantify the waiting list, it's it's very long. So those folks as well have A great great need No, no long before the cooperative was completed we had the 12 units full in a waiting list Of all 30 people. We had so many applicants and many of them qualified. But once we got through the the 12 First come first serve all the rest on waiting lists for that We're seeing I mean a couple things are happening one is people are staying with us much longer once they find affordable housing folks are staying with us Second we're finding that the income levels of folks who are looking for assisted housing is increased more and more People even at more than more than minimum wage jobs are having difficulties securing decent And affordable housing and they're coming to us and waiting lists now for us is getting to be a little bit of a Uh Unrepresentative number to the extent that some folks are so frustrated And we tell them about how long the waiting list is that they almost walk out the door because they realize That's not going to come in time to help them Are you getting are you getting anywhere with surrounding communities? South Burlington opened a an affordable housing last year one One complex have any other towns been able to do anything Frankly there's not nearly enough going on But there is some activity and I think much of the activity that's taken place in in surrounding towns Is as a result of the engagement of the non-profit organizations and they could better tell you What what the nature and extent of that activity is you're right last year Several state agencies and with the cooperation city of south Burlington opened and with the Burlington community land trust Opened I think a very innovative Housing development off patch and road which provides both home ownership opportunities through the Burlington community land trust And multifamily housing opportunities through a limited equity cooperative That was the way it was structured without getting in the jargon was a very innovative way to use existing tools In colchester The town is working with the Burlington community land trust to Rehab a building at 40th and Allen for use as a facility for people with hiv The town of Colchester is also That ground is breaking this week to construct a 40 unit Facility for seniors in cooperation with the cathedral square So there is that there is some activity going on in In the surrounding communities, but no nor the community other than Burlington has taken the bull by the horns and said, you know, we have a problem Let's let's survey it. Let's find out what that problem is and let's make sure that when we That the limited resources that are out there are best used. There's no overlap. No duplication And that's that's what leads to a document like this An agency excuse me a municipality Who was willing to be very proactive? in trying to resolve A serious problem affecting a majority of its citizens And are there is there the need in the surrounding communities? There's a need in the surrounding communities and I think there's a growing awareness Of of the of the problem and how it affects people But they're and while there's a growing commitment the commitment isn't anywhere near what it is in Burlington Yeah, it's not my intent to chastise Other cities and towns it is my intent though to suggest that We have an original affordable housing problem That requires that demands a regional solution And while Burlington is proud of its record, we need to do more Other communities particularly those that have no record Need to do something in response to this affordable housing crisis And it's it's important to every resident of this state Is this an updated existing policy or is this something completely new that's never been No, this is this is uh, we have reviewed existing policies This is a reaffirmation Of a housing policy That embraces this strategy of a housing tenure ladder And it also is dependent upon collaboration Collaboration with the third sector But but this is not totally new stuff For what this is is a reaffirmation of existing policies a review Of past successes, but also a very clear articulation of where we're going for the next couple of years Okay, thank you all