Continued conversations about solving housing issues Lamoille communities
Lamoille Housing Partnership (LHP) and Lamoille County Planning Commission (LCPC) are hosting a Housing Solutions Summit at Green Mountain Technology & Career Center on Wednesday May 1st from 9am – 12pm. The Housing Solutions Summit will follow up a previous, needs-focused Summit by coalescing local community leaders, decision makers and members of the public to discuss and determine collaborative, actionable, and sustainable solutions to the Lamoille region’s housing opportunities and challenges.
“In response to the outcomes and conversations at the Housing Needs Summit,
LHP and LCPC are reconvening previous Summit attendees and members of the
public at the upcoming Housing Solutions Summit to continue conversations
critical to addressing the Lamoille region’s diverse housing opportunities
and challenges,” explains Lamoille Housing Partnership Executive Director,
Jim Lovinsky.
In 2018, LHP, LCPC and the Stowe Land Trust commissioned Doug Kennedy
Advisors to produce the “Lamoille Housing Needs and Assessment Study,” a
comprehensive data rooted report that surveyed the Lamoille region’s
overall housing landscape. Several key variables pinpointed in the report
illustrate the study area’s housing crunch, such as housing stock, housing
availability, vacancy rates, and incomes and wages. In an effort to share the
study findings and facilitate dialogue among local community leaders and
decision-makers across sectors, the trio of organizations hosted the Housing
Needs Summit. The study’s author, Doug Kennedy, was on hand and offered an
in depth presentation of the study data. Following this was a panelist
discussion, consisting of community leaders and decision makers who
identified the region’s numerous housing opportunities and challenges
through the unique lens of each panelist’s profession.
Housing opportunities included strong partnerships between public and private
entities, community-based investments in programs to prevent evictions and
homelessness, increased funding of federal and state subsidies to make
housing price points affordable, and renter-centric support systems to
connect housing insecure residents with resources to achieve housing
affordability. Adversely, many challenges mentioned in the panel discussion
were directly connected to windows for opportunity; however, additional
housing challenges that were identified included exclusionary zoning
practices that eliminate housing development for specific populations, out of
sync federal housing and economic policies, low availability of subsidies and
development tax credits, and continuously rising development costs.
“The goal of the Housing Solutions Summit is to proactively address the
housing opportunities and challenges laid out in the Housing Needs Summit
panelist discussion and shift those conversations to action,” explains
Lovinsky. “Round table discussions among attendees will facilitate deeper
conversations about the various opportunities and challenges, as well as
finding opportunities for cross sector collaboration.”
The Housing Solutions Summit is free, and open to the public. To learn more
and RSVP, visit Lamoille Housing Partnership’s website,
www.lamoillehousing.org/events.
Lamoille Housing Partnership develops, rehabilitates, and maintains safe,
decent, energy efficient affordable housing through rental, home ownership,
and other means to low and moderate income persons and families living within
Lamoille County and the Town of Hardwick. Lamoille Housing Partnership
provides such assistance without discrimination or prejudice, using a
combination of private and public funding partnerships. Lamoille Housing
Partnership is an IRS approved 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization. Learn more
at www.lamoillehousing.org.
United States