It felt like a triumphant crossing of the finish line! South Hero and C.I.D.E.R. have held this dream of senior housing in the islands for decades.
Cindy Reid of Cathedral Square addressed the Selectboard in their February 13 meeting. She expressed appreciation for all the community enthusiasm and support. You can watch her 11-minute presentation on LCATV at this link (it’s first on the agenda):https://lcatv.org/south-hero-selectboard-2023-02-13The finished project provides 30 independent-living units of affordable rental housing for seniors.
Cindy fielded questions about occupancy (100% of 30 independent living units), waiting list (86), construction costs and financing, sources of support and more. Due to the state and federal support, applicants for housing are not limited to Grand Isle County; although, over half (57%) have connections to the Islands (were either from the Islands, or have family in the Islands, or summered in the Islands) . All 30 units, even those called “market rate” are income-restricted to individuals with income up to half the median income. The funding sources for housing totaled $10,720,925; although, original pre-pandemic estimates for construction were $6.6 million. The largest (61%) funding source was a federal tax-credit equity loan. “It’s really hard to do any new housing production without tax credits.”
Earlier, Joan Falcao had spoken with Jason Posner, Executive Director of C.I.D.E.R., and he guessed that 3 residents were from South Hero and 3 were former residents who were able to return. So that is why she asked about replicability and expressed the opinion that our senior rental housing needs are not yet met.
The supporting documents mentioned in Cindy’s presentation are available at this link.
Cindy was very knowledgeable and articulate, so please watch her presentation if you have an interest in this project.
