Letter to the editor: State policies make it tough to boost housing stock

The legislative breakfast held at Shoreham Congregational Church with only one Addison County Legislator, Senator Chris Bray present. Shame on the rest!

If you have spent any amount of time in the “affordable housing” rabbit hole, you are aware that research over the last 50 years has shown that nonprofit housing organizations are consistently better at keeping people housed than for-profit housing develo … (read more)

In the spirit of the Living Together series, we cannot live together unless there are homes for people to live in.

Change happens. It happens in spite of us. Change can be random and with unexpected consequences, or it can be carefully planned for and achieve more predictable results.

The Middlebury Development Review Board has unanimously OK’d a mixed-use building on South Pleasant Street that will host offices for Marble Trail Financial and a penthouse residence for that business’s owners.

A lack of available housing created a lot of problems in 2023, not only for folks trying to settle in Addison County, but for various businesses and institutions trying to fill vacancies on their workforce rosters.

The Vergennes City Council last week as expected approved a change in the city’s municipal plan that should pave the way for a substantial number of new housing units in the city’s northeastern quadrant — possibly more than 130.

After hearing from a Main Street property owner and a former city planning commission member, the Vergennes City Council has altered a proposed amendment to the Vergennes city plan to make it less restrictive and allow more new housing than the amendment … (read more)

The owner of two Vergennes condominium and apartment buildings under construction overlooking Otter Creek has been denied a final attempt to avoid an Act 250 permit requirement. 

With affordable and workplace housing a critical need for Addison County and Vermont as a whole, some advocates are working on a plan to expand housing in town centers in a way they say is “gentle.”

While the Stoney Hill business park nears completion on Bristol’s Firehouse Drive, community members are celebrating the opening of a new affordable housing development across the street. 

The addition of a single clause to one sentence in the Vergennes City Plan could open up a vacant 14.4-acre parcel off the north end of Main Street for around 130 housing units.

The Middlebury Development Review Board on Monday, Sept. 25, conducted its first review of preliminary plan by Summit Properties to build a 218-unit, mixed-income housing project on 35 acres of Middlebury College-owned land off Seminary Street Extension.

The event, “Addison Housing Rocks!” is dedicated to raising awareness about the pressing need for affordable housing in our region.

How can we as a community make it possible for folks working in the area to have a decent place to live that is not financially out of reach?