ORLEANS COUNTY – Residents at the southern tip of Orleans County are taking the housing crisis into their own hands.
photo courtesy of Headwaters Community Trust
As established organizations pursue housing projects in the region, Northeast Kingdom locals are developing their own initiatives aimed at easing the shortage.
In one of the latest efforts, a group of residents has formed the Headwaters Community Trust with the goal of supporting permanently affordable homes through the community land trust model. The land trust, which received its nonprofit status in December, plans to focus its work in the scenic, rural towns of Craftsbury, Glover, Greensboro and Albany.
“Having watched as the price of land and houses has climbed out of reach for regular folks, I felt there must be a solution, a way to bring access to affordable homes and land back down to ‘Earth,’” said Rick Morrill, a Greensboro resident and a member of the new trust’s board. “The CLT model is the best tool that communities like ours can use to achieve this goal.”
The trust would acquire and maintain ownership of land, selling houses on it at an affordable price. Homeowners, if they decide to sell, would do so per an established resale formula to keep the housing affordable in perpetuity, “protecting it from the speculative real estate market.”
map courtesy of Headwaters Community Trust
The trust would be governed by both “resident members,” who live in the homes on trust-owned land, and “general members” who live, work or own property in the trust’s service area.
Headwaters Community Trust began as an outgrowth of another community-driven initiative, a monthly housing forum that has been taking place at the East Craftsbury Presbyterian Church for several years.
The church, which had been looking for a way to respond to the need for affordable housing, started the forum in 2023, according to Jenny Stoner, a church official and co-convener of the forum.
Forum participants circulated a letter in Craftsbury last summer asking residents if they might help address the “urgent need for long-term housing” by converting seasonal or short-term rentals into long-term rentals or adding accessory dwelling units to their property, for which funding is available.
“Our small town is struggling to house families, students and teachers for our local schools and colleges. Our local businesses are struggling to find housing for their employees” read the letter, signed by local businesses such as Craftsbury Outdoor Center, Pete’s Greens and Sterling College and former state Rep. Katherine Sims, D-Craftsbury. “Please help us to save our community by providing long term housing for our beloved friends and neighbors.”
The group also had a panel discussion on accessory dwelling units this past fall, Stoner said in an email, and learned of six such units that RuralEdge, which develops and operates affordable rental housing across the Northeast Kingdom, thinks are a result of the panel.
In addition to the monthly housing forum and newly formed trust, two separate Greensboro housing projects are also in the works. The Greensboro Initiative, associated with Central Vermont Habitat for Humanity, plans to construct a new duplex in Greensboro Bend this spring. The proceeds from the sale of those homes would be reinvested in constructing additional affordable homes.
RuralEdge and the town of Greensboro have also formed a partnership to redevelop the town hall to include 20 new apartments. (On Town Meeting Day, residents will decide whether to hold a vote by Australian ballot on the project — which has faced significant pushback at a later date.)
Linda Ramsdell, who grew up in Craftsbury and has made it her home for almost 40 years, serves as president of the Headwaters Community Trust’s board of directors. She said a $15,000 grant from the Northeast Vermont Development Association gave the organization some early momentum. In addition, Ramsdell said they’ve received generous volunteer support from John Davis, a founder of Burlington Associates who has worked with community land trusts all over the world.
