Housing

Housing Targets Task Force

In 2001, the Chittenden County Regional Planning Commission (CCRPC) invited housing experts and business and community leaders to serve on the Chittenden County Housing Task Force (2001 Task Force) to identify strategies to address this crisis.

The 2001 Task Force found that the major cause of the County’s housing crisis is the failure of the supply of housing to keep pace with the housing demand resulting from the County’s expanding economy. This group also recommended that CCRPC assemble representatives of the County’s 19 municipalities in order to build greater regional collaboration in addressing housing shortages.

Fair Housing

Fair housing laws should:

• Strive to ensure that all people have equal access to housing that meets their needsProhibit discrimination in the sale, rental, appraisal, financing, or advertising of housing;
• Prohibit municipal governments from undertaking actions that purposefully or inadvertently limit housing opportunities in unfair ways
• Empower the people who experience discrimination to seek redress for the wrong done to them.
  

A municipality may bear significant costs when it is even alleged that the municipality has violated a fair housing act. In addition, when a municipality obtains funds provided by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), including pass-through funds from the State (such as Community Development Block Grant funds), the municipality must certify that it will “affirmatively further fair housing” (that it will take steps to prevent fair housing violations in the community).

In 2008, CCRPC prepared a fair housing report for the Champlain Valley Office of Economic Opportunity (CVOEO). The report is intended to help officials and staff in CCRPC’s 19 member municipalities to be aware of their fair housing responsibilities by

• 1. Providing background information about fair housing and municipal fair housing responsibilities;
• 2. Identifying the desirable and undesirable fair housing features of the 2006 Chittenden County Regional Plan and the plans and development bylaws of CCRPC’s 19 member municipalities and
• 3. Providing checklists of measures that municipal officials can take to help them meet their FH responsibilities.
  

Related Resources

• Vermont State Housing Authority (VSHA)
• Vermont Housing & Conservation Board (VHCB)
• Vermont Housing Finance Agency (VHFA)
• Vermont Division for Historic Preservation ~ Downtown Program
• Vermont Department of Housing & Community Affairs (DHCA)
  • Vermont Neighborhoods Program

Related Resources (National)

• National Association of Housing & Redevelopment Officials (NAHRO)