More than 30 apartments added in Burlington supporting veterans, unhoused
By James Maloney
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BURLINGTON, Vermont (WPTZ) — A Burlington housing project project five years in the making, was seen through to the end Friday.
With a ribbon-cutting to make it official, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders (I) joined developers to celebrate the addition of 38 apartments to the Queen City.
“This is what this project is about: It’s about service,” CEO of the Champlain Housing Trust Michael Monte said.
While speaking, Monte read a note from a staff member explaining who’s occupied the new units.
“From what I can tell, the people we are housing, the people we serve, are often the ones who serve our community in return,” he read. “That was beautiful for me.”
The new units were added to a redevelopment of the VFW and Community Justice Center on South Winooski Avenue.
A total of 46 new residents have already moved in, with four of them being veterans, and nine units have been dedicated to those experiencing homelessness.
The new apartments are “permanently affordable.”
“We eliminate the risk of market rate conversion,” Senior Vice President of Real Estate Development for Northern New England non-profit Evernorth Kathy Beyer said. “Post apartments is now a forever asset of the community of Burlington.”
The $24 million project was funded by federal and state tax dollars as well as private investment. Sanders secured $1 million in congressional spending for the development and said this project is one step toward addressing the housing crisis.
“It is a model of what should be done all over this country,” he said. “Maybe instead of spending hundreds of billions of dollars fighting a war we never should have gotten in, we might want to be investing in low-income and affordable housing and putting millions of people to work doing that.”
Monte said new apartment residents are working in Burlington and other parts of Chittenden County.
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