Vermont Business Magazine Burlington Housing, Vermont’s oldest and largest municipally chartered housing authority, has announced that Laura Zeliger will serve as its new executive director. Zeliger will replace Allyson Laackman, who currently leads the organization that helps very low-income Burlington-area residents find and retain housing through rental assistance and support services.
Zeliger currently serves as the community and restorative justice director for the Vermont Department of Corrections (DOC), where her efforts have focused on helping to reduce recidivism. Throughout her career, Zeliger has effectively brought diverse groups of community leaders and individuals together to tackle complex issues collaboratively and holistically.
“Laura will be an excellent executive director for BHA and I’m excited to welcome her aboard,” said Michael Knauer, chairperson of the BHA board. “She has a strong commitment to our mission and is an experienced manager—transparent, direct, articulate, analytical, and collaborative.”
“BHA plays an integral role ensuring that residents have access to safe and affordable housing,” Zeliger said. “I am excited to join BHA’s talented and committed team and to work with community partners to provide vulnerable individuals and families in the Burlington area with a place to call home."
Burlington Housing owns or manages 680 rental units across 32 properties and administers several Department of Housing and Urban Development rental subsidy programs, which provide $20 million in funding to help ensure safe, affordable housing for over 2,500 families. BHA also provides housing retention support services, which help families avoid eviction and improve the quality of their lives.
Assisting the commission with the search for her replacement, Laackman was pleased with the pool of qualified candidates who applied and with the search committee’s final choice of Zeliger.
“Laura struck me as someone who both understands the challenges some of the families supported by BHA face and is well-prepared to continue BHA’s efforts to develop solutions to address their needs,” she noted. “While I am personally sad to be leaving BHA, I am so pleased to turn over the leadership to someone of her caliber, with a collaborative, strategic leadership style that will continue BHA’s civic leadership,” she said.
Zeliger has substantial experience working within both private nonprofit and governmental sectors in the areas of management, policy, administration, and program development and implementation. She has devoted her career to empowering under-served and vulnerable people by connecting individuals and families with the support and tools they need to make positive choices in their lives.
Prior to joining DOC, Zeliger served as policy analyst with the Council of State Governments (CSG) Justice Center. Before her post at CSG Justice Center, she worked for the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services’ Office of Probation and Correctional Alternatives, where she provided oversight and technical assistance to county probation departments. Zeliger previously served as the executive director of The Center for Community Justice, a nonprofit, community-based agency that offered: restorative justice, mediation and dispute resolution, alternatives to incarceration, and child advocacy.
She has a lifelong commitment to volunteering and truly values her service as restorative justice practitioner, mediator, advocate, facilitator, board member, and trainer. Zeliger received her B.A. from the State University of New York at Albany and her M.B.A. from Norwich University.