Vermont Business Magazine On Monday, 16 April 2018, the RuralEdge(RE) Board of Directors approved the decision to close Scenic View Community Housing, in Westfield, Vermont, because REcan no longer afford to keep the facility operating.RuralEdge announced the decision in a statement issued today.
“The significant costs of running Scenic View for the past two years has caused an untenable financial situation for the RuralEdgeorganization that requires immediate action,” stated Louise Bonvechio, Chair of the Board for RuralEdge. “Those costs have seriously impacted RuralEdge’s various real estate projects, programs, and services.”
“Closure of Scenic View is a process that begins immediately and is expected to be completed by the end of July 2018,” said Patrick Flood, RE’s Interim CEO. “We will be working closely with the people who are living at Scenic View, their families, and guardians, to find an appropriate new residence.”
Flood told VBM: "We have to give 90 days’ notice to the residents. We will work hard to find the best placements possible in the area, but all residents will be placed in another residential care home or nursing home. We can’t be sure how long that will take, and it could be less than 90 days. The facility will close once all the residents are safely placed elsewhere."
Several years ago, RuralEdgedecided to meet a need for housing for the area’s aging and special needs population by purchasing Scenic View.
As a community development corporation primarily serving the Caledonia, Essex, and Orleans counties in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont (NEK),RuralEdgedevelops housing that is affordable for low and moderate-income families, seniors and people with disabilities.
The organizationmanages over 600 housing units that are affordable and spread across 2,000 square miles in the most remote rural area of Vermont. REoperates a Home Ownership Center (HOC) providing Homebuyer Education, Financial Empowerment classes, Home Repair and Rehabilitation, and SASH,aSupport and Services at Home program for seniors.
RuralEdgenot only provides access to quality housing that is affordable, it has also helped transform communities by rehabbing underutilized or vacant, deteriorated and sometimes fire-damaged properties in key locations, turning them into community assets.
Source:Lyndonville, VT RuralEdge