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HUD Officials Join Mayor Weinberger to Celebrate Burlington House America Commitment and Discuss Goals to Address Homelessness and Increase Affordable Housing

HUD Officials Join Mayor Weinberger to Celebrate Burlington House America Commitment and Discuss Goals to Address Homelessness and Increase Affordable Housing

House America leverages American Rescue Plan and other federal resources to immediately re-house and build additional housing for people experiencing homelessness

Burlington, VT - Today, HUD New England Regional Administrator Juana Matias joined Mayor Weinberger at the site of Elmwood Emergency Shelter Community to discuss Burlington’s success in reaching their 2022 House America goals and talk about the city’s future goals to address homelessness and increase affordable housing supply.

House America is a national partnership in which HUD and USICH invited mayors, county leaders, Tribal nation leaders, and governors to use the historic investments provided through the American Rescue Plan to address the crisis of homelessness through a Housing First approach by immediately re-housing and building additional housing for people experiencing homelessness.

“House America began with a call to our local leaders to address the nation’s homelessness crisis with the historic ARP investments and other federal, state, and local resources,” said HUD Regional Administrator Juana Matias. “And Mayor Weinberger and Burlington answered that call. So today we are reaffirming that commitment and celebrating the progress we’ve made in re-housing homeless individuals and creating more affordable housing for the community.”

“We have set forth a goal to effectively end homelessness in the City of Burlington by 2025,” said Mayor Miro Weinberger. “Nearly one year into that work, the achievement of meeting our more immediate commitments to House America is an early, important indicator of progress toward that goal. With such strong alignment between our City and State and Federal governments I am confident we can do what is required to in the months and years ahead to fulfill the promise of housing as a human right in Burlington.”

In December 2021 Mayor Weinberger announced 10-point Action Plan to Fulfill the Promise of Housing as a Human Right in Burlington, each initiative of the plan supports two overarching goals: to double the rate of housing production and to end chronic homeless. In February, Mayor Weinberger also signed on to House America and committed Burlington to produce 8 new units dedicated to the formerly homeless and to re-house 66 homeless households in 2022. Between May and September, 108 households were placed in permanent housing in Chittenden County, and 7 new homeless dedicated units have been created. The City expects another 20 units to become available by February 2023 through the Vermont Housing Improvement Program, managed by the State of Vermont Housing and Community Development department, which provides direct financial support for private landlords to improve existing rental properties.

Another 39 homeless dedicated units are anticipated to come online between now and 2025 as part of planned private housing developments. The City and Champlain Housing Trust continue to work toward the late November opening of the ARP-funded Elmwood Emergency Shelter Community which will host 30-35 emergency beds.

House America is the federal government’s direct response to the crisis of homelessness, which was rising even before the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic. In March of last year, HUD released its 2021 Annual Homeless Assessment Report Part 1 to Congress, which found that more than 580,000 people experienced homelessness in the United States on a single night in January 2020, prior to the pandemic. COVID-19 has created greater urgency to address homelessness, given the heightened risks faced by people experiencing homelessness. At the same time, COVID-19 has slowed re-housing activities due to capacity issues and impacts on rental market vacancies.

To learn more about House America, visit: www.hud.gov/house_america.

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Press Release Date: 
11/01/2022
City Department: 
Mayor's Office