While housing shortages are common across Vermont, Addison County is particularly strapped. According to research done by Rights and Democracy, the Addison County housing vacancy rate was 2.4% in 2021; a 6% to 8% rate is considered healthy.
In an effort to combat that problem, South Burlington-based Summit Properties has partnered with Middlebury College to build 150 to 250 units of affordable and market-rate housing in downtown Middlebury. The development will include a mix of apartments, multifamily homes and single-family homes.
The project is Middlebury’s largest affordable housing development in years, according to Brian Carpenter, chair of the town’s selectboard.
Construction is planned on a 35-acre plot of land on Seminary Street Extension that the college bought from Marjorie Mooney for $1.5 million in April 2022. As it begins construction, Summit Properties will pay the college back over time for each housing unit; the project is expected to cost about $40 million in total.
Once they’re completed, Middlebury College hopes the units will provide affordable housing for its employees, along with those of Porter Medical Center. The two institutions have struggled in recent years to hire new employees because of a lack of affordable housing available in Addison County.
“The College’s ability to attract and retain faculty and staff is dependent on the economic development of the Town of Middlebury, Addison County, and the state of Vermont,” David Provost, executive vice president for finance and administration, wrote in an email to VTDigger. “This provides the beginning of a solution for the College, Porter Medical Center, and all businesses in the region.”
Summit, a supplier of affordable and workforce housing in Vermont, New Hampshire and upstate New York, had been looking for a property in Addison County for some time before the college opportunity presented itself.
Zeke Davisson, chief operating officer at Summit Properties, said the Seminary Street Extension property proved to be ideal because it meets the smart growth criteria needed to receive state and federal funding. Those requisites include properties that are walkable to the center of town, accessible to public transport, and have water and sewer service available.
“We had already been looking for places to do this type of development in Middlebury,” Davisson told VTDigger. “This property was perfect.”
Davisson added that the company hopes to break ground on the project by early 2024, and is now having zoning conversations with the town of Middlebury and filing funding applications with the state.
Summit is partnering with Addison County Community Trust, the largest provider of affordable housing in the county, to apply for funding for the project from the Missing Middle-Income Homeownership Development Program. Signed into law by Gov. Phil Scott in June 2022, the program provides subsidies and incentives for home builders to construct or rehabilitate homes affordable to Vermont homebuyers at 120% of area median income or lower.
While this is the only funding application Summit has filed so far for the project, Davisson said it plans to submit some infrastructure financing applications early this spring, as well.
The exact number of affordable vs. market-rate housing units and rental vs. homeownership units has yet to be determined, depending on the funding the project is able to secure, which will affect the per-unit prices.
“We will do as much workforce and affordable housing as we possibly can,” Davisson said.
Based on median yearly income numbers in Addison County, workforce housing is classified for a household of two with an income between $50,000 and $80,000, while affordable housing is for a household of two with an income less than $50,000.
According to Carpenter, the selectboard chair, the town has recognized the housing shortage for a while, but lacked the ability to act on it without the support of organizations with financial resources, such as Summit and Middlebury College.
“Housing was our No. 1 selectboard priority for 2022 and we will continue for 2023 to work on activities that support and grow the housing stock,” Carpenter said. These activities include reevaluating zoning regulations to make it easier to develop greater density housing, such as the Summit project, in the downtown area.
Town residents support the project, he said, recognizing the dire need for more housing. “The support we’ve gotten has been overwhelming and it’s really encouraging to see,” Davisson said.
The selectboard has also been working with Summit on bringing the project before the town development review board and the regional Act 250 Environmental Commission to ensure it keeps moving forward.
A number of developers have created new housing in Middlebury, such as the South Village Apartments, but each time new housing came on the market, it was bought up swiftly, he said. “It really got exacerbated around the time of the pandemic to the point where people couldn’t even find an apartment to live in.”
Elise Shanbacker, executive director of Addison County Community Trust, agreed that the pandemic worsened a housing problem that was already building.
Shanbacker said that the number of people living in an average household has decreased over time, and the strong job market created a higher demand for housing.
Davisson also cited a Vermont Housing Agency report about the number of jobs and homes in every town in the state as indicative of the issue in Middlebury, specifically.
According to the research, a healthy ratio is two jobs to one home, and a ratio over three to one is a serious problem. Middlebury’s ratio was 4.5 jobs to one home in 2021.
“That, I think, is a big indication of how much trouble the town of Middlebury is in for housing,” Davisson said. “There are no homes.”