Via Community News Service, a University of Vermont journalism internship, on assignment for The Other Paper
Vermont’s housing crisis is often cast as a dilemma between the need for affordable housing and the desire to protect the environment.
But we can have both, say members of the newly-formed South Burlington Housing Committee.
New chair Nora Senecal hopes the conversation moves beyond the dichotomy of open space versus additional housing.
“I would really like to see it not have an equation of it being either/or,” Senecal said.
This new committee combines two former housing groups: the Affordable Housing Committee and the Housing Trust Fund. These were joined together in November with a new name and the goal of including a wider variety of voices in these decisions.
“It’s important to have all the stakeholders actually at the table when we’re making policy and having discussions,” Senecal said. “If you have more people in the conversation, then it’s just more fruitful.”
This change comes as Vermont struggles to address the ongoing housing crisis and a growing homeless population. Recently, the state ranked fourth highest in homelessness rates, alongside more urban states such as New York.
By removing the word “affordable” from the Housing Committee’s title, it hopes to address a wider range of issues, including workforce housing and residences for middle-income and low-income people.
Similar to many communities in Vermont, the balance between the environment and development is often at the center of the housing discussion in South Burlington.
Housing committee member Vince Bolduc spoke about a broader definition of environment that encompasses both the physical and the social.
“Some of the greater challenges are balancing our need to protect the environment writ large, the world environment with the need that people have for housing,” Bolduc said.
Larry Kupferman agreed. Kupferman is another member and former chair of the Housing Trust Fund.
Kupferman has a history with environmental efforts in Vermont, having moved here in the early 1970s as part of the Back to the Land Movement.
“This struggle, this tension between housing and conservation, it is a real tension. It exists. It is throughout the state,” Kupferman said.
“There are places that people think should be developed, and there are places that should be kept open for a number of reasons,” he said.
South Burlington lies within four miles of the two largest employers in the state: the University of Vermont and UVM Medical Center, putting it in a unique position.
“Most towns have the same problem, but because South Burlington is so close to the city center — Burlington and major employers — it’s harder for us,” Kupferman said.
Burlington International Airport also brings an array of challenges to housing in South Burlington. Kupferman pointed to the removal of many single-family, middle-income houses in the Chamberlain neighborhood because of the airport.
However, in recent years South Burlington has significantly increased its housing stock. In 2022, the most recent year data is available, South Burlington added over 400 housing units — up from 240 the year previous.
Members of the newly formed committee are working to address the immediate housing crisis, while preparing for the future as well.
“How can we be the most flexible, so that if people 20 years from now need to rethink what we do with something, they can?” Senecal asked. “Because they’re going to know best what their community needs.”