Multigenerational Development Meets Housing Needs in Shelburne

Multigenerational Development Meets Housing Needs in Shelburne

Harrington Village helps to address the acute need for affordable housing in Chittenden County, Vermont. Credit: Housing Vermont Harrington Village and Wright House, a new multigenerational development in the town of Shelburne, Vermont, brings much-needed affordable housing to Chittenden County. Home to Burlington, the state’s largest metropolitan area, as well as several of Vermont’s largest employers, the county is a major economic center. A significant percentage of cost-burdened households, an aging population, and recent economic growth in Vermont being limited primarily to the relatively low-wage service sector have combined to increase demand for affordable and senior rental housing. Developed by nonprofits Champlain Housing Trust (CHT) and Housing Vermont, Harrington Village includes 42 apartments spread over 5 buildings. Wright House, developed by Cathedral Square Corporation, includes 36 senior apartments with free in-home care-coordination services. Green Mountain Habitat for Humanity will soon add four for-sale homes in two duplexes on the site that will remain perpetually affordable through CHT’s shared equity program.

The Wright House provides 36 units of low-income senior housing with access to the Support And Services at Home program. Credit: Sally McCay Photography

Harrington Village

Harrington Village’s 42 apartments include 6 market-rate units, 25 units that are affordable to households at or below 60 percent of the area median income (AMI), and 11 units affordable to households at or below 50 percent of AMI. Project-based vouchers are available for three units, which are reserved for veterans at risk of homelessness. The 10 one-bedroom, 30 two-bedroom, and 2 three-bedroom apartments are spread over 5 buildings. Rents range from $740 for a one-bedroom unit to $1,225 for a three-bedroom unit and include heat, hot water, and snow and trash removal. The development is located within walking distance of restaurants, retail, and public buildings in the center of town and is also on a bus line.

Development costs for the 42 apartments totaled $10.7 million. Financing included a $6.3 million low-income housing tax credit equity investment and a $1.45 million loan from TD Bank, a VHCB loan, VHCB HUD HOME Investment Partnerships program funds, and additional support from NeighborWorks America and other sources.

Wright House

The Wright House senior apartment building consists of 36 one-bedroom units, 3 of which fully comply with standards of the Americans with Disabilities Act. All of the other units are adaptable, meaning that they can be made fully compliant with a few modifications. The apartments incorporate design elements to help residents age in place, such as vinyl plank flooring that accommodates assistive walking devices. Although the three-story building has two elevators, architects designed a centrally located birch stairwell to invite physical activity. Other amenities include a community room, gym, library, community kitchen, laundry facilities, beauty salon, storage, underground parking, computer room, outdoor walking loop, and a garden.

Cathedral Square offers all residents access to the Support And Services at Home (SASH) program, an integrated health services approach that focuses on preventative care and positive aging. Wright House has an onsite SASH coordinator and a wellness nurse. SASH is funded by Medicare at no cost to participants. Evaluation of the program finds medical cost savings and other benefits such as fewer falls and a higher likelihood that residents will have a primary care physician, annual checkups, and flu shots.

All of the Wright House apartments are assisted through U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) vouchers for seniors with incomes at or below 80 percent of AMI, with a preference for households at or below 50 percent of AMI. Financing for the senior housing totaled $9.3 million and included $6.5 million in low-income housing tax credit equity from Enterprise Community Investment, $1 million from USDA Rural Development, and smaller amounts from additional sources.

A Replicable Success?

Together, Harrington Village and Wright House provide 78 desperately needed affordable apartments, most of them below market rate, near both recreational amenities and the village center. Reflecting the community’s high demand for affordable housing, all of the rental units were fully leased when the development opened in August 2014. The community celebrated the completion of the development at a grand opening attended by Governor Peter Shumlin and a large crowd, notes CHT director of community relations Chris Donnelly. Donnelly says that community support sustained the project through challenges such as an arduous permitting process.

Each of the nonprofits involved indicated interest in replicating the multigenerational model, although completing such projects will be challenging because of limited and declining resources. Housing Vermont vice president of partner relations Kenn Sassorossi points out that secondary funding sources are increasingly scarce, which makes acquiring enough land to accommodate a dual-use development difficult. Reid also fears that the lack of resources, particularly cutbacks to HUD Section 202 and USDA Rural Development funding for new construction, will make such projects less likely in the future. Yet in Shelburne and other places with tight rental markets and swelling numbers of older households, the need for developments like Harrington Village will only grow.