Regional Affordable Housing Nonprofit Organizations Merge

Burlington, Vermont – The Burlington Community Land Trust (a NeighborWorks® member) and Lake Champlain Housing Development Corporation announced that the two organizations are merging effective October 1, 2006 to form one regional affordable housing non-profit serving Chittenden, Franklin and Grand Isle Counties.

Champlain Housing merger principals

From left, Brenda Torpy, CEO of Champlain Housing Trust; Randy Amis, president of the BCLT board; and John Powell, COO of Champlain Housing Trust. (Photo credit: Rosalyn Graham.)

“The Champlain Housing Trust is committed to providing perpetually affordable housing for residents of northwestern Vermont,” stated Randy Amis, president of the board of directors. “There are a lot of housing needs in our region and nationally, and we are proud to say that the Champlain Housing Trust will continue to be a leader to meet this challenge.” Combined, the two organi-zations provide a range of housing for those who need it – from single room occupancies with social services to rental apartments to cooperative housing to single family homes.

Together, they will have a portfolio of over 2,000 homes in the region.

“As we started overlapping service area and services, it became clearer to us that we needed to find a way to work more closely together,” explained John Powell, executive director of LCHDC. “And with limited funding that would support two regional affordable housing groups, it just made the most common sense to combine our strengths and try to provide more service to our residents.”

“What is so special about our work is that even though we work throughout this large region, we are still community-based,” added Brenda Torpy, executive director of BCLT and first CEO of the Champlain Housing Trust. “One-third of our volunteer board of directors are residents in our housing, and the Board also has representation from four municipalities and someone with a regional housing perspective.”

Both organizations were founded in 1984 out of an effort by the City of Burlington to help the housing needs of low income residents in the region. BCLT’s initial target area was the Old North End neighborhood in the city, while LCHDC developed rental housing in the suburban ring. Each organization has expanded the services they provide and the region they serve over the years. The mission of the Champlain Housing Trust is to preserve and expand affordable housing for low- and moderate-income people in perpetuity. The Housing Trust’s 84 staff cover an area comprising 39 towns and over 200,000 citizens, nearly one-third of the state’s population.