CHT: Remarks & Ribbon Cutting for Affordable Housing & Veterans Center Opening in Burlington

All right, let's go. >> So, the seats, come sit down. You all can't gaggle in the back. Let's go. Hey, Chris. Chris. Chris. >> I told Cara she's getting she's doing the scissors. You may tell us tomorrow. All right, y'all ready? There is no microphone. So, I have to use my Brooklyn voice, which is uh comes up on occasion. >> Thank you back there. Appreciate it. Thanks. That was nice. Whoever did the shush, I appreciate it. So, uh good morning. Um my name is Michael Monty. I'm the CEO of Champlne Housing Trust. Welcome. Uh we're here today to cut the ribbon on this great development. And I have to say this was truly a labor of love. Uh it started with our friends at the Veterans of Foreign Wars came to us and said we need to do something different. Thank you BFW and thank you Michelle Caver for coming to us giving us the opportunity to serve. We we know of your service and we and and to be able to have that to be able to do that and serve our community also uh is heartwarming. The VFW building was old and needed work. Um uh and the VFW simply didn't have the resources to do what needed be to be done. So we worked together. Uh we swapped money back and forth. uh we figured out how to make the pieces fit and today here you are standing in this beautiful new center serving our community's veterans. There's more to the story. Uh the city of Burlington also needed a new location for their community justice center which now serves all of Chittenden County. Today they have a space that really works for them and supports their important mission. It's next door. Maybe they'll let you in. I don't know. We'll see. know we know people um we need to thank the city for its engagement and support for CJC for all the work it does and also for the millions of dollars in resources from the city of Burlington that went into getting this site ready uh and and and in creating the new affordable housing and these these these spaces. Then there's a little icing on the cake. 46 new residents now call this place home. living in 38 decent, safe, and affordable apartments. Among them are four veterans and 10 households coming out of homeless homelessness. Uh when I asked our staff to tell me more a little bit about the people who live here, they tell they told me that there are quite a few people working right here in Burlington. uh around a dozen or so by their count uh at places like City Market and Santiago and Looney and August 1st uh and other places outside the city like Chili's and McDonald's and Chipotle. Others work at nonprofits. Others work as laborers and at local banks. Um and some of the nonprofits include CVOE and community health centers and Champlain uh excuse me, community health centers of Burlington and the Valley Vista. She ended a note with me uh to me with something that really stuck, struck me. She said, "Little composure here on my part. From what I can tell, the people we are housing, the people we serve are often the ones who serve our community in return." That was beautiful for me. This is what this project is about. It's about service. So serving our community has always been Champlne Housing Trust's mission for decades. And there has been no better supporter of CHT and of this development than our senior senator from Vermont, BERNIE SANDERS. LET ME THANK Mike uh not only for his work on this project but his work over the over the decades uh to build low-income and affordable housing throughout the state of Vermont. Mike, thanks very much. Let me thank the uh Champlain Housing Trust, Evan North, uh and our great friends, the VFW, for getting together, uh to build this project. Uh I can tell you what I think many people in this room know. Building a project like this is not easy. It is complicated. You need all kinds of funding sources, etc., etc. They did it. They made it happen. So, thank you all very much for the great work you did in building this important project. Now, I know and you know that in the city of Burlington, in the state of Vermont, in the United States of America, we have a massive, massive housing crisis. And our country today, the richest country on earth, 800,000 people are homeless. In America today, 20 million households are spending 50% of their limited incomes on housing. If you spend 50% of your income on housing, you don't have money left to do much else. That is insane. So, what this project is about and what is so exciting about it is not only that it builds 38 units of permanently affordable housing, it works with our friends uh at the uh at the BFW to make sure that veterans not only get housing but have an opportunity to work together to access the resources they need to come together to sh to develop and improve uh their lives. Uh, also I want to thank uh those people uh in the community justice center for the great work they do in reaching out in trying to get to the root of crime and this will be a a good resource for them as well. All right, the bottom line is that this is a model to my view and I'm glad that we were able to bring a million dollars into this project. Uh and uh it is a model of what should be done all over this country. Maybe instead of spending hundreds of billions of dollars fighting a war that we never should have gotten in, we might want to be investing in lowincome and affordable housing and putting millions of people to work doing that. So once again, thank you all who made uh this project possible. Uh and um let's use this as a model uh for where we want to go in the future. and I look forward to working with everybody in this room to see that we build more projects like this not only in Chitten County but throughout the state. Thank you all very much. It was short. Uh thank you Senator. Um let me take a few moments and thank some of our state lawmakers who are here. Sen. Senator Kisha Ram Hensdale. Let's see who else is here. Uh, Senator Martin, is she here? I don't know if she's here. Miss Kranau, Representative Krano from South Burlington. Thank you for being here as well as HS Secretary Jenny Samson. I appreciate uh your coming and your support. Uh and also just a deep appreciation for all the public officials from the administration uh to the state legislature uh to the city council uh and uh the and the mayor's office who have made permanent affordability like this a priority. Um, and before I introduce Kathy, I also want to thank the incredible people who made this project possible, uh, at Champlne Housing Trust. Our project management team, our property management team, our maintenance team. They're here, right? wave your hands. SHOW and especially our development team supported by Amy Demetitz and led by Miranda Lascaz along with Kirsten Marman Shapiro. He put countless hours countless hours to bring this vision to life. Kirst Kirsten was here this morning uh rubbing some stuff on some concrete because it didn't look right just so you know. Um uh so Kathy Byer has been serving Vanas for decades most recently in a role as Evernor's senior vice president for real estate development. Kathy, >> thanks so much. Michael and Senator Sanders. Um, uh, Evernorth and Champlne Housing Trusts have been getting into good trouble for almost 40 years, and in that time, we've built over 2,300 apartments together. So, um, we're thrilled to be here today for this ribbon cutting. And Senator Sanders, thank you. This is your early commitment to post apartments is critical to getting to this ribbon cutting. Um, there's a lot to celebrate. As Michael touched upon, the collaboration, the partnerships um from architects, contractors, the developer team, literally hundreds of people helped to build this building. Um, and the long-term support we've received from Senator Sanders and the rest of our congressional delegation, who I believe we have staff from, uh, Senator Welch's office and Congressman Balance office, please pass our gratitude back to your bosses. We um, so appreciate our congressional delegation. So, at Post Apartments, we've taken the important step to ensure these homes, these 38 apartments above us, are going to be affordable for this generation, for your grandchildren, and for all generations to come. You see, nowhere is this principle of permanently affordable housing more important than in this Burlington rental market. We know from years of experience, starting almost 40 years ago with North Grade, Northgate Apartments. Senator Sanders is very familiar with that transaction. And then again, almost 20 years ago with Warf Lane Apartments and Bobin Mill apartments, a total of 424 apartments were at risk of market rate conversion. But when we signed up for permanently affordable housing here at Post Apartments, we eliminate the risk of market rate conversion. Post Apartments is now a forever asset of the community of Burlington. and Senator Sanders, thank you for your long-term commitment to building permanently affordable housing in Burlington. So, these 38 homes were made possible by bringing together 20 different funding sources. I'd like to just briefly acknowledge the three uh largest funders um today in that beginning with uh TD Bank as our equity investor who made a equity investment in this building of over 6.4 4 million. Uh that equity investment from TD Bank was made possible through the work of the Vermont Housing Finance Agency, who both allocates the low-inccome housing tax credits, was a construction lender, and the permanent lender. And I don't know if Mora Collins is in the room. Oh, there she is. Thank you, Mora. Um and then thirdly, um another major funer is the Vermont Housing and Conservation Board who invested over 8.9 million in this building. So, thank you Gus and your staff for being constant supporters of our work. It it takes more than dollars to build to uh bring a building to life as Michael touched upon. like to take a moment to thank our design and construction team, Duncan Wnuski architects, Wright and Moresy contractors for your exceptional work as you can see by the beauty of this building and the staff at Evernorth on our development team, Ben Sts, Sandra Sila, Sue Crajac, as well as our community investments and asset managements group. So, I think I'm turning this back to Michael. Sorry, I was right. All right. So, um, we're going to have a ribbon cutting. So, at this, uh, when I say go, we're walking out that door. Okay. Some of you folks who have brought us some dollars are going to get scissors. We're gonna we're gonna cut a ribbon. And so, oh, let's just hope this works. But before we do this, uh these as you could tell, projects like this don't happen by accident, right? They take dedicated people, dedicated sources of funding, dedicated support at the state level, at the city level, all throughout um throughout the process. Um people working it, working it, working it to make it right. Um so um people it happened because people come together because they know that something better is possible. to today we get to celebrate this result. A place for our community uh for our veterans, for people who are experiencing homelessness, a place where our neighbors can live with dignity, safety, and affordability. It's a good thing. That's something worth celebrating. GO. How are you This little guy so funny, buddy. I never strategically Congratulations. >> No, it's fine. I know. I'm going to be all right. I just need to share something with my please. >> No, I haven't seen the door. >> No worries. better. >> Move over here. Move over here. Closer. Tighter. >> You have a photographer getting a nice >> He's risking his life. I like the hat. President. Oh no. These areas doubly so much to talk How you doing? Good to see you. like people are arriving. It's really nice and it's like the right height does this >> Why do they right over says 0. >> I think so. >> Hopefully see you both soon. I'll email you the >> gonna say goodbye. Oh, sorry. How are >> things doing? Yeah. 20 sources though. >> Yeah. More than like the regular 50. etc. >> All right. Well, time to go back to my office. >> Going 5 miles an hour by the beach. You got to remember >> Hi, I'm Senator Quesa Ram Hinsdale. Um, proudly the former chair of the Senate Economic Development, Housing, and General Affairs Committee, and uh, now the Senate Majority Leader. Um we're here at the new post apartments in Burlington and um this is a project that everyone could get behind to make sure that veterans and families coming out of homelessness have a safe and uh central place to live and be in community as well as revitalizing this VFW post that has been here for so many decades. I'm actually here with Lydia Diamond who's a new resident of the property and I wonder if you want to share any words. >> I love the post. It's fantastic. I have a brand new apartment >> with a handicap shower I'm very proud of. I'm think I've been a resident with CHT. I'm in my 21st year. >> Wow. >> But I've been here at the post since May. And what a birthday gift. I turned 63 in May. >> Oh my god. and I moved into the post. To God be the glory. I'm thankful. >> That's so great. Oh my gosh. Well, I can't top that. We're just grateful Senator Sanders was here and all of the partners who made this project possible. And we are, as someone said in the speeches, you know, most of the folks in here, all of the folks in here are people who are serving their communities. And now we can serve you. >> That would be me. I'm a community liaison and I speak for the poor, the marginalized and power to the people. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.