PUTNEY — Hundreds of Windham County residents - children, veterans, seniors, young adults, the employed and the unemployed, are living in a state of homelessness. An extremely disproportionate number identify as BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color). People are unable to find a place to live and when apartments do open up, they are often far beyond the price range of the average earner.
Vermont has been underdeveloping housing for over 40 years. With the increase in demand during COVID-19 and the arrival of evacuees from Afghanistan - nearly 100 so far, with more on the way - we now find ourselves in a full-blown crisis.
There is virtually no housing available, and what is for rent or sale is prohibitively expensive, even for families with two incomes. Towns without housing quickly become towns without thriving schools, businesses, and communities.
The following are recent quotes found online in response to folks seeking rentals locally. They demonstrate the scale of the problem:
• “I only found my place through word of mouth, having connections within the community. Snapped it up before it even hit the market. Was houseless for four months prior.”
• “Tons of people are struggling to find housing in our area, even locals are becoming homeless due to the lack of options/affordability.”
• “Rentals are scarce, to say the least, and exorbitant rent prices if you do find an apartment.”
I could easily find hundreds more like them.
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In 2019, the Windham and Windsor Housing Trust began conversations with the community regarding an affordable housing project they hope to develop here. This is exactly the kind of solution our community desperately needs.
Over the past two years, they have worked hard to engage in many conversations and forums to develop a plan in partnership with the community that proposes beautiful, affordable, environmentally friendly housing next to the Putney Farmers' Market and the Putney Community Garden. It includes 25 units of housing and space on the land to continue and protect and work with our beloved market and gardens.
This plan decreases mobility and transportation barriers for its future residents (it is directly on the bus line) and is within walking distance of the post office and library, a medical office, the Putney Foodshelf, and Putney Community Cares. The farmers' market will literally be a neighbor, which for those receiving supplemental aid from 3SquaresVT could easily and greatly stretch their food budget!
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While many in Putney share my enthusiasm, there is a surprisingly vocal cohort that have recently created a petition asking that the sale of the land for the project to Windham and Windsor Housing Trust be canceled and that the sale instead go to a new group that would like to protect more open space - in a town with an incredible amount of already conserved lands.
The petition also mentions that maybe at some point the group could perhaps include tiny houses or trailers as part of the plan. They have no proposed timeline for this housing, which give less supportive structure, no clear funding plan, no proposed site(s) to add homes, no projection for how many, no indication when they would add them, and no details on how such houses would be connected to services like electrical and sewage.
Beyond the petition, harmful disinformation has been spread about both the Housing Trust project and the people who live in affordable housing.
It would be helpful to remember that when we talk about people living in affordable housing, we are talking about neighbors and loved ones.
We are talking about young families, new graduates, older neighbors who want to age in place, and people whose livelihoods command relatively modest levels of income - our paraeducators, store clerks, landscapers, health care workers, and others.
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Covid, lockdowns, isolation, inability to go into one another's spaces - these stressors all contributed to conflicts, lease breaks, and other infractions on other Housing Trust properties. We saw it across every community.
The Housing Trust demonstrated their ability to respond as a learning organization to residents' emerging needs for more intentional community by building a supportive services team. Their experience - matched with commitment to learning and growth - is an advantage no new group would share in.
We are at a crossroads, a key moment in which we are called to decide who we are and what our community stands for. Affordable housing in Vermont is a fundamental need. If we are a community that supports fundamental needs, we need to do so with more than lip service. The time to act is now.
Please join me in enthusiastically supporting WWHT to create something really special at the heart of Putney, an example for other communities throughout the state: climate-friendly housing for many that contributes to the evolution of a walkable, vibrant neighborhood.