July 30, 2008
Contact:
Erin Angell Collins, 202-220-6317, ecollins@nw.org
Chris Harper-Fahey, 617-585-5031, cfahey@nw.org
NeighborWorks® America Congratulates Champlain Housing Trust
on World Habitat Award
Champlain Housing Trust’s model cited as innovative affordable housing solution
Washington, D.C. – Today NeighborWorks America congratulated the Champlain Housing Trust of Burlington, Vermont, on being named a 2008 recipient of a World Habitat Award for its community land trust model, a practical and innovative solution that creates and preserves permanently affordable housing. Champlain Housing Trust, a member of the NeighborWorks network, will receive the award during World Habitat Day, UN-HABITAT’s global celebration that will take place in Luanda, Angola, on October 6, 2008. Champlain Housing Trust is the first NeighborWorks organization to be recognized for this international achievement.
Initiated by the City of Burlington in 1984, Champlain Housing Trust began as an experiment in slowing gentrification of urban neighborhoods and providing housing opportunity for low- and moderate-income households. Champlain Housing Trust uses a shared equity model, where owners share the market appreciation of their homes with the next buyers when they sell. The model has been replicated throughout the country and in other parts of the world.
“We congratulate Champlain Housing Trust for achieving this international honor. Champlain Housing Trust is an industry leader that has worked to create and preserve affordable housing in Vermont for more than 20 years,” said Ken Wade, CEO of NeighborWorks America. “Innovative homeownership strategies, like Champlain Housing Trust’s shared equity model, are an important solution to local market affordability challenges and should continue to be replicated nationally, and internationally.”
Brenda Torpy, CEO of the Housing Trust, added, "The Champlain Housing Trust is honored to be recognized among the best of the best, and we are thrilled to have this award to share with all of our partners that are so committed to permanently affordable housing. In this time where newspaper headlines scream about the housing slump, sub-prime mortgages, foreclosures, and now Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the Housing Trust is a true success story.”
The Champlain Housing Trust, a member of the NeighborWorks network, is a community land trust that supports strong, vital communities in northwest Vermont through the development and stewardship of permanently affordable homes and community assets. Over 2,100 families and individuals live in Housing Trust homes. In 2007, the organization’s efforts resulted in 117 new homebuyers, amounting to almost $20,000,000 in mortgage commitments. In addition to mortgages, the Housing Trust is leveraging a $59.4 million investment in real estate development, with a pipeline that will create or preserve 320 permanently affordable apartments and owner-occupied homes in the next 18 months.
UN-HABITAT is the United Nations agency whose goal is promoting socially and environmentally shelter for all. One World Habitat Award is given annually to a project from the global North, and one to the South, that provides practical and innovative solutions to current housing needs and problems.
For more information, please contact Erin Angell Collins, 202-220-6317, eangell@nw.org, or Chris Harper-Fahey, 617-585-5031, cfahey@nw.org.
About NeighborWorks America
NeighborWorks America creates opportunities for people to improve their lives and strengthen their communities by providing access to homeownership and to safe and affordable rental housing. Since 1991, we have assisted nearly 1.2 million low- to moderate-income families with their housing needs. Much of our success is achieved through our support of the NeighborWorks network ― more than 230 community development organizations working in more than 4,400 urban, suburban and rural communities in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. In the last five years, NeighborWorks organizations have generated more than $15 billion in reinvestment in these communities. NeighborWorks America is the nation’s leading trainer of community development and affordable housing professionals. www.nw.org.
