Hinesburg Affordable Housing Committee
Meeting Minutes
Committee Members Present: Rocky Martin, Carl Bohlen, Julie Pierson, Kellie Stoll, Alan Norris, Donna Constantineau, Andrew Burton, Dale Wernhoff.
Also Present: Amy Wright of Cathedral Square Corp., Bruce Wheeler.
The meeting came to order at approximately 7:05 PM.
Presentation by Amy Wright of Cathedral Square Corporation (CSC): CSC, now in its 30th year, is an affordable housing developer, a property manager specializing in resident service coordination, and a licensed long-term care provider. They have been involved in over 1000 living units, mostly for senior citizens. There are several additional key features in some affordable housing for seniors which can increase costs. They can include on site property managers, an on site staff person/nurse, a universal design of the units to suit various physical challenges (roll out shower, adjustable height kitchen counters, wheelchair accessible door openings), and an eye toward safety (making sure snow is clear of paths, etc.). There are additional expenses too, including increased energy costs, increases for Meals on Wheels, etc., that impact seniors on fixed incomes.
In 2000 CSC opened their first assisted living facility providing 24 hour assistance to tenants. Costs to operate the assisted living facility w/ 24 hour care (housing, food, etc.) range from $2595 to $3765/month per tenant. For comparison, nursing homes are $200/day. This facility is struggling financially and CSC is looking for alternative funding sources for this facility.
A recent CSC building (Whitcomb Terrace in Essex) took another route. It’s not an assisted living facility but was built next to an existing 65 unit senior housing complex. This allows the two facilities to share some services which helps reduce costs. Another CSC project (Whitney Hill in Williston) is looking into co-ops or for-sale housing to provide financial assistance.
Additional issues with senior housing, besides those mentioned above, include increasing life span of people with decreasing mental and physical abilities strains the senior housing system, getting a senior housing project off the ground is harder due to the limited income of the tenants combined with the health service needs, and it’s hard for tenants to pay for services that they used to do themselves (like help w/ bathing).
Amy says it’s not all doom and gloom though. Senior housing units become a community within the community. This is one of the reasons why Glover built eight units of senior housing and Cabot is building 12 units.
Other business: Lea Cassidy (AHC Secretary) has indicated she’s looking to resign from the AHC if a replacement can be found. Bruce Wheeler who has been regularly attending the AHC meetings is interested.
Next Meeting –
May 3rd – PowerPoint presentation by Julia Curry of Vermont Interfaith Action (postponed from April meeting) and nominate AHC Secretary to take Lea’s place.
Respectfully submitted
Dale Wernhoff