Tuesday, April 18, 2017

State housing agency approves tax credits for housing projects

A “big piece” of the funding for a renovation project in the Woolson Block in Springfield was approved by the Vermont Housing Finance Agency (VHFA) Board of Commissioners on Monday.

ww.eagletimes.com

www.vnews.com

16 comments :

  1. So what will be different? Now the apartments will be brand new, same clientele. How about nice apartments that would attract working people who contribute. I wouldn't want to rent space for a business having the same types of people living above. Business as usual in Springfield, we have too much low income housing.

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    1. Life in Springfield just goes from bad to worse. Meanwhile subsidize housing owners line their pockets foisting the scum of the Earth upon tax paying, property owners. Keep in mind the Woolson Block is tax exempt! That means the burden its low life residents place upon community services is bank rolled by you and me. I hate every thing about this place!

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    2. Springfield Housing runs a pretty tight ship on leasees.

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    3. The subsidized housing in town IS NOT tax exempt.

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  2. "If you build it they will come." A town being reconstructed for the on-the-dole industry.

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  3. Amen 11:41 AM! I have commented repeatedly on this forum for months that we don't need any more public housing in the Square. I agree with you entirely that this latest "plan" is not going to attract the type of people we want in downtown Springfield. However, the powers that be in Springfield don't give a you-know-what about what local homeowners/voters want. What is it going to take to get Springfield voters to vote for leaders who will effect a positive change?

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  4. chuck gregory4/19/17, 4:52 PM

    I suggested that the Youth In Transition people be taken under the wing of the neighborhood organizations to get connected with the real life of Springfield. They'd find out what makes a neighborhood, what families need and want, how much people need and appreciate what they're doing and how valuable they are to others. A very good "welcome to the world of adulthood" for young people who have little idea of what it's supposed to be like.

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  5. Reward = tax money

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  6. Great idea! Why haven't you stepped up to fund such a project? Right. Nobody wants to invest that kind of money into restoring the grand old downtown buildings. This was the best way to achieve restoration. My understanding is that with the housing authority involved there are rules, and if not followed tenants can more easily get the boot. So it won't be as before. Hopefully!

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  7. Will the building become handicap accessible?

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  8. So many negative people. Look at the movie theatre building. It's clean with no loitering. That's what they will do to the Woolson Block! Either get on board with improving the town or go somewhere else and be negative and drag some other town down.

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    1. Yeah, look at the theater building. Both its two retail store fronts remain unoccupied. No retail business can thrive here due to the demographic. So what's the solution? We add MORE low income housing. Let Springfield serve as a case study in how progressive politics took a community that once had the highest per capita income in the state, and turned it into an impoverished, drug plagued, human cesspool.

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  9. George T. McNaughton4/20/17, 6:04 PM

    While subsidized housing for others than the truly disabled or the elderly downtown is always of concern, it has always been asserted that this project will be overseen and the residential part monitored by the Housing Authority. The Housing Authority has a pretty good track record of weeding out problematic tenants, and they did an excellent job with the theatre renovation. So although the Selectboard should keep close watch, I have a lot of confidence in the Housing Authority that doesn't extend to some of the more private sector.

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  10. I look and see over 100 homes for sale in Springfield, some good and some not so good. Perhaps Springfield needs to switch gears, no pun intended and start to focus on attracting good industry, which will attract more people to move here thus more money will be contributing to to the Town. This building needs rehab, but for business, not more subsidized housing. I do not doubt that the Housing Authority does a good job, but to be blunt we need people that contribute rather than rely on State/Federal services.

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    1. George T McNaughton4/22/17, 12:40 AM

      I don't disagree with you, but unfortunately the private sector wasn't interested in refurbishing the property and the former owner was problematic. The simple truth is that public sector funds were and are needed to restore the building and the best sources of such funds was public housing funds. The Selectboard, however, will have to remain vigilant to make sure the Housing Authority stays true to its representation that it will seek to put retail stores in the first floor storefronts and not squeeze in more housing on those floors or rent them out to social service agencies as office space. It has leverage since the Town is providing some revolving loan funds.

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  11. chuck gregory4/21/17, 12:55 PM

    The question is, do we understand what attracts business? It used to be that towns could just bribe them with free land, lots of tax breaks and cheap and malleable labor. All of which, of course, they would gladly accept, use up and leave as soon as they possibly could.

    So, what should we have instead of those cheap jewels to make them want to stay?

    The first one I would suggest is to promote full employee ownership. You're not going to see employees choosing to fire themselves for a pittance. Another one would be to market Springfield's advantages relative to all the major metropolitan areas-- we don't have the heat of Atlanta, the drought of Silicon Valley, the traffic problems of the BosWash megalopolis, the earthquakes of San Francisco or the wildfires of Boulder. We do have primo Internet, higher quality of life in general. And we could be doing something to make our school system a magnet.

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