Canoe Imports is offering canoe/kayak rentals at the 2009 Habitat Picnic. It's great to have another generous sponsor for our upcoming picnic. Thanks! Don't forget to visit Canoe Imports website.

By Ellen Kane

Sixty-one (61) percent of Vermonters could not afford to purchase a home in Vermont today. According to the Between a Rock and A Hard Place, Housing and Wages in Vermont, 2009 Update, the median purchase price of a home in Vermont is $200,000 -- a 100 percent increase since 1996, requiring an income of $63,000.  Yet the median income for all Vermont’s households is $51,566. 

“There’s a lack of resources at both the federal and state levels,” said Erhard Mahnke, Coordinator of the Vermont Affordable Housing Coalition.  “We’re coming out of an era that has been bad for housing.  Federal commitment since the 1970s has seriously diminished.”  Attempts to dismantle both Section 8 rental assistance funds and Block Grant dollars over the last eight years have constituted a barrier to developing new affordable housing.  Housing agencies and nonprofits are struggling to maintain current subsidies for clients already housed. 

By Sarah Zobel - This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Live music, good food, croquet, badminton, games for kids . . . it could only be the 2009 Green Mountain Habitat for Humanity Community Picnic! This fun-filled event is open to the public and will take place at Shelburne Farms on Sunday, July 12. Festivities will begin at 3:00 p.m.; food will be served from 5:00 p.m. on.

Chefs from the New England Culinary Institute will be on hand to prepare a delicious meal of hamburgers, hot dogs, a variety of salads, and other BBQ treats. After you’ve had your fill of all that good food, work it off with a game of badminton, a round of croquet, or a little Frisbee tossing. And for the truly younger members of the crowd, there will be plenty of age-appropriate games to keep them moving.

By Roberta Nubile - This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

According to the Vermont Housing Finance Agency (VHFA) 2009 annual report, Between a Rock and a Hard Place, “The recession hasn’t made finding affordable housing for average Vermonter’s any easier.”  Sarah Carpenter, VHFA’s executive director notes, “Both private and public resources for housing investment are becoming harder to obtain, and, despite low interest rates, tighter credit and higher financial requirements are making it more difficult for many consumers to qualify for a mortgage.”

Habitat for Humanity addresses the need for affordable housing in a unique way.  Many organizations address affordable housing by the purchase or building of housing from donations, and in turn making it available to income eligible recipients.  A family will fill out the paperwork and wait; the partnership is between the organization and the family.  Habitat embodies a community wide, hands-on, get your fingernails dirty approach – from the volunteers who donate their time to build the house, to the family who ultimately lives in it.

By Roberta Nubile - This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Green Mountain Habitat for Humanity is about to take the next step in its growth.  And there is a terrific team leading the way.

The affiliate chapter applied for and received an $80K Capacity Building grant from Habitat for Humanity International, according to Tamira Martel, who was hired as a full-time Development Director as a result of this grant.

Martel, along with chapter Executive Director David Mullin, and volunteers Ted Johnson, Stu Burroughs, and Russ Willis, make up the core group who will strategize the nuts-and-bolts steps to bring the chapter to what is called  “block builder” status. What this translates to is that the chapter would build five to nine houses per year, as opposed to the current four.  Not an easy assignment, but each team member brings a wealth of experience to the endeavor. 

By Roberta Nubile - This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Webmaster's note: This is the 4th and final of a 4 part series on our history. 
GMHfH History Part I - Part II - Part III - Part IV

Carol McQuillen is a founding Board member at Habitat, and during her seven year plus tenure there, has served on every committee except Building. McQuillen has several poignant memories of her time with Habitat. “One quintessential moment was when we told our first family that they would be able to build a house. They lived in a rebuilt chicken coop with no running water and had 6 children. I will never forget that.