VERMONT: Lack of affordable housing pushes
low-income families to the brink
The Brattleboro Reformer
By CAROLYN LORIÉ
Reformer Staff
Originally published April 23, 2005
BRATTLEBORO -- Since a fire forced them out of
their three-bedroom apartment on March 25, the family of
April Hutchins and Frank Nephew has moved three times.
On the night of the fire they went to the Super 8 Motel,
where the Red Cross put them up for three nights.
Next came a stint at Nephew's father's house that had to be
limited because of regulations regarding subsidized housing
-- if visitors stay more than a few weeks, the subsidy can be
pulled.
Last Friday, the family of seven moved into a single room at
the Best Inn on Putney Road, where they can expect to pay
almost $1,000 for a month's stay.
There are plenty of reasons why living in a motel room is a
hardship for the five Hutchins-Nephew children: there's no
room for their toys; there's no yard to play in; there's not
even a sliver of space to claim as one's own.
But a hardship they are not suffering is a lack of other
children to play with.
The low-slung building at the rear of the motel is home not
only to the Hutchins-Nephew family, but to several others as
well. As Hutchins' daughters, 6-year-old Destiny and
4-year-old Alexis, play in the gritty parking lot, they are
joined by a chubby toddler who lives in the next room. Her
young pregnant mother watches her from the porch.
While a particular set of circumstances brought each family
to this point, they all share a common obstacle: they can't
find affordable housing.
Market forces
The typical client at Morningside homeless shelter used to be
a single man, who stayed a few weeks and then moved on. Then
families started showing up and staying for slightly longer
stretches, maybe four to six weeks.
Over the past few years, however, the number of families --
usually a single woman with children -- occupying the shelter
has risen sharply and for many the length of stay isn't
measured in weeks but seasons.
According to Lucy Tell, outreach coordinator at the shelter,
it's not unusual for a family to move into the shelter and
spend two to five months looking for an apartment they can
afford.
As long as people abide by shelter rules and are actively
working on finding housing, there is no set limit to how long
they can stay. The objective is to help people move into a
situation that will not lead them back to the shelter's door
in six months or a year.
But doing that in Brattleboro, and across the state, is
getting harder and harder as the number of affordable units
decreases and the demand for them increases.
Part of the problem, explained Pat Burke and Lisa Clarke of
Southeastern Vermont Community Action, is the political
climate, especially at the federal level. Not only is federal
funding for low-income housing programs being cut, but also
there is resistance to making other changes, such as
mandating a livable wage.
According to a report published by the Vermont Housing
Council and the Vermont Housing Awareness Campaign, there is
a discrepancy between what people in the state earn and what
they pay in rent.
In 2004, the average fair-market rent for a modest,
two-bedroom apartment in Vermont was $698, up 24 percent from
1996. To be able to afford that fair-market apartment --
meaning that no more than 30 percent of one's income would be
spent on rent -- a Vermont household would have to earn
$27,914 a year.
But, according to the report, 57 percent of Vermont's
workforce holds jobs where the median wage is below that.
And the problem isn't limited to rental units. The median
purchase price for a home in Vermont jumped to $165,000 in
2004 -- a 67 percent increase since 1996 and a 10 percent
increase from 2003.
The figure for newly constructed single-family homes and
condominiums was $294,000. The median household income in
Vermont is slightly over $43,000.
With real estate at such a premium, there is little incentive
for private developers to invest in low-income housing.
As long as the market will bear it, the real estate boom will
continue and the shelters will stay full.
Three bunnies and a dog
Of course not all the troubles plaguing people living in
shelters or hotels or cars can be pinned on market forces or
government policy. People do make bad choices, take
unnecessary risks or act irresponsibly.
According to Tell, it's not unusual for her to get a frantic
call from a family that is being evicted in a few days, even
though they may have been notified a month or two earlier.
But whatever it is that brings a family to homelessness or
the brink of it -- a fire, a medical emergency, a bad
decision -- the resources to get back to steady ground are
disappearing.
According to Clarke, the results are crises that become
protracted and a cycle of poverty that keeps people
marginalized.
Too many families end up in the same situation as the
Hutchins-Nephew family: every last resource goes to living
day-to-day. And the longer they must do that, the less likely
it is that they will be able to change their circumstances.
Hutchins and Nephew are acutely aware of this. The only way
they see out at this point is if the community pitches in for
the Estey Street fire victims the way it did for those who
lost their homes in the Wilder Building fire last year.
"We don't want to be the charity case of
Brattleboro," says Hutchins, sitting on the front porch
of the motel. "But we need help."
In the meantime, her 4-year-old daughter Alexis fantasizes
about the life she will lead when her days of being homeless
are over.
"I want three bunnies and a dog," she says.
The Lions Club has set up a bank account for the 30 people
displaced by the Estey Street apartment fire. Anyone
interested in making a donation can inquire at the
Brattleboro Savings and Loan on Main Street. For more
information on housing in Vermont visit www.housingawareness.org
or www.housingdata.org
.
Carolyn Lorié can be reached at clorie@reformer.com.