BRATTLEBORO-Opportunities for available "workforce" housing seem to have taken a positive turn in town. But there's a problem. Not many are applying to rent them.
"It's an interesting dynamic because a few months ago - four to six months ago - that was not the case," says Susan Bellville, principal at Bellville Realty. "There were no available units. I wasn't putting anything out because I would have been inundated [with calls from potential renters]."
Bellville, who also manages five properties with a total of 36 units, watches the real estate market assiduously. About a month ago she says there were at least 33 available apartments in Brattleboro that she considers "workforce" housing.
The term has come into vogue with town planners, government, and organizations concerned with housing policy or advocacy, as well as real estate agents, developers, and lenders.
"Workforce housing" can refer to any form of housing, including ownership of single- or multi-family homes and occupation of rental units. It is generally understood to mean affordable housing for households with earned income that is otherwise insufficient to secure quality housing reasonably near the occupants' workplace.
Bellville sets the bar for workforce housing at $1,200 to $1,800 per month for one- and two-bedroom units.
"Generally, what owners are looking for is three times rent for income to qualify for occupancy," she explains.
That means a renter would have to be earning at least $50,000 annually - a guideline as to how much annual salary should be in hand to manage such rental costs.
From there being 33 apartments available here at the beginning of September, by New Year's Day there were still 27 listed on Zillow and other sites.
"I was getting no interest for two months, then modest interest, so I was curious why," says Bellville.
She says she checked and double-checked inventory, and "there were still 27 in town. That's a lot," she says.
"To find there are that many units available is interesting. We've got the housing, but not the people to take them up. From my perspective, it feels the income in Brattleboro isn't supporting workforces. The jobs aren't paying enough. But to have very few inquiries, it feels like there aren't that many people looking.
"Because I have such a broad-reaching sphere between rentals and sales, I pay attention to the dynamics of why people are here and leaving … it's a puzzling time," she continues. "It's the cost of living here that's the problem."
Bellville thinks a potential 7% town operating budget increase is "too much for people who want to live in this community, and it makes it harder for rentals."
Adding to the cost, due to the size of some properties, dumpsters are needed - and Bellville says costs for those containers recently "just went up at least 10% across the board."
Generally, Bellville thinks "availability of jobs has changed."
"There aren't that many in the category of [earning] $50,000-plus," she says. "We now have the housing for people to come here for the good-paying jobs, which seemed to be the battle cry for a long time […] now we have the housing, but we don't have the good paying jobs."
WWHT changes from waitlist to notification list
The Windham & Windsor Housing Trust (WWHT), which owns a number of workforce housing units in Brattleboro and in the region, no longer has a waiting list.
WWHT Executive Director Elizabeth Bridgewater says that's not because the demand for affordable housing has diminished. Rather, the Trust has changed its approach "to make the process more efficient and to open up the opportunity for more people to access our rental homes."
Bridgewater explains that about a year ago WWHT began transitioning from the waiting list mode to a "notification list to fill housing vacancies."
"The old wait list approach was very inefficient because many of the people who were on the list were not responsive when we had vacancies available, but the wait list policy required us to reach out in the order people appeared on the list," she says. "We found that we were sending out a lot of letters announcing vacancies, but the response was low."
A deeper look "revealed that some people had moved out of the area or they were not looking for housing at that particular time, or the vacant apartment didn't meet their needs," she says.
"With the transition to a notification list, the process of getting the word out is more efficient, and vacancies are being filled faster," she adds.
Bridgewater describes the move as a "transition" deliberately, she says, because WWHT offered everyone who had been on a waitlist the chance to remain on it, keeping their same place in line. However, if they were unresponsive or declined an opportunity offered, they were removed from the waitlist and placed on the notification list.
"Over time, the number of people on the waitlist for any given property has declined and in most cases, we're now fully utilizing a notification list," she says.
The way the notification list works is that when a vacancy becomes available, WWHT sends a notification to everyone on the list. "We then review completed applications on a first-come, first-served basis. In addition to being more efficient, this new process has opened the door to people who may qualify to rent a home through the Housing Trust, but who assumed they would never get the opportunity because the waitlist was too long," says the director.
"The one exception to this approach is if there is a project-based voucher attached to the rental home," she adds. In these cases, the WWHT is still required to use a waitlist at the Brattleboro Housing Authority, which administers the voucher program.
The Federal Home Loan Bank of Boston has awarded $47 million in grants, loans, and interest-rate subsidies through its Affordable Housing Program to support 49 affordable housing initiatives in New England and beyond. These projects will create or preserve 1,532 rental and homeownership units for individuals and families earning up to 80% of the area median income.
As part of this funding round, Vermont received nearly $3 million to fund 124 affordable housing units in Brandon, Brattleboro, Grand Isle, and Newport.
For the WWHT's Alice Holway affordable housing project, now under construction in Putney, buildings at 48 and 50 Alice Holway Drive are nearly completed. In December, Bazin Brothers Trucking, from Westminster, dug a portion of Alice Holway Drive in order to connect the new complex to the town water system.
Applications to rent these apartments will be opened in the spring. If you are a Putney group, organization, school, business or other entity and would like applications on hand when leasing begins, email mmajor@homemattershere.org. Anyone can sign up to receive notifications for WWHT's available apartments in Putney (Putney Landing, Noyes House, and Laura Plantz House) at homemattershere.org/how-to-apply.
Tip of a trend?
While WWHT's waitlist changes aren't related, Bridgewater says Bellville's hunch that folks can't afford "affordable housing" isn't wrong.
"I think Sue is onto a trend due to a number of factors," Bridgewater says.
"In general, because of persistent inflation for the cost of basic goods, renters' budgets are being squeezed more than ever," she says. "And in Windham County, renter median income is much lower than those who own their homes."
According to the Vermont Housing Finance Agency's 2025–2029 Housing Needs Assessment, renter median income in Windham County was $37,231, compared to owner median income of $77,651.
Bridgewater says in addition, 74% of all households in Windham County have a household income of less than $52,378.
The final factor: "Windham County has a higher percentage of households led by someone 65 and older than the rest of the state, and more often these households are single-person households," she says. "These trends point to a highly cost-burdened renter population that may not be able to afford market-rate housing.
"In addition, the cost to provide housing is more expensive than ever with large annual increases in property insurance, health care costs, and diminishing labor force. There is also the factor of the winter season, when folks don't tend to move as often so there is usually a buildup in inventory during this time."
Board to talk housing Feb. 3
Still, Selectboard member Amanda Ellis-Thurber feels optimistic that there's more available affordable housing.
"It sounds like in Brattleboro, at least, we may be moving out of the housing 'crisis,'" she says.
Her board colleague Oscar Heller, who is also a housing provider with five units on Elliot Street, says it's early to say for sure, "but if the rental market is loosening up, that's outstanding news."
"It may be a sign that recent pro-housing steps taken by the town may be taking effect," he says. "More available units leading to lower rents would be a huge help to Brattleboro, and I say that as a landlord who has certainly benefited from the tight housing market of the last few years."
He says that more apartment housing "leads to economic growth, workforce development, and attracting younger people who often prefer rentals."
"And, of course, more housing means less homelessness and less housing insecurity," Heller says. "I'll continue to monitor the housing situation with great interest and with hope."
The board is tentatively set to meet with town Planning Director Susan Fillion, who was not available at press time, on Feb. 3. Check out the WWHT notification list online at homemattershere.org.
This News item by Virginia Ray was written for The Commons.