Homes for Norwich is a nonprofit organization formed to educate residents of Norwich, Vermont, about the housing challenges in the town and the region, and the need for more housing opportunities in town.
Norwich is among the highest-income towns in the state, with an excellent elementary school and in close proximity to a high concentration of employment opportunities. These attributes make living here highly attractive, especially for young families, but high housing costs are a persistent barrier.
CHALLENGES
A recent study conducted by the Keys to the Valley initiative, a joint project of the Upper Valley Lake Sunapee Regional Planning Commission, Two Rivers-Ottauquechee Regional Commission and Mount Ascutney Regional Commission, suggests that the broader Upper Valley region needs an additional 10,000 homes by 2030.
In addition to the housing crisis’s direct impacts on low- and moderate-income households, area employers report that they are unable to fill positions or retain employees because of a lack of affordable housing. Norwich has a low level of new homebuilding activity, concentrated at the higher end of the price spectrum on large lots located a significant distance from the town center. The existing housing stock is no more accessible to new residents, since the town consistently has among the highest housing prices in the state.
The challenges to developing affordable housing in Norwich – including lack of wastewater infrastructure, the limited reach of public water infrastructure, and high land values – have pushed all affordable development elsewhere, such as neighboring Hartford, VT, and Hanover and Lebanon, NH.
OPPORTUNITIES
The Town of Norwich, in a rarity for such a small town, has a housing strategy, developed with public engagement in 2019 and incorporated into the current town plan, which was adopted in 2020. The strategy sets goals for the creation of dedicated affordable housing, “missing middle” housing (duplexes, triplexes, etc.), and accessory dwelling units. However, these goals remain stubbornly unmet.
The official town bodies concerned with housing – the Planning Commission and its Affordable Housing Subcommittee – are creative and persistent in lowering technical barriers to housing, such as by streamlining the zoning regulations. But those bodies are not well suited to building broad-based support among residents.
OUR ROLE
As a nonprofit organization separate from town government, Homes for Norwich can amplify the impact of public bodies through education, outreach, and networking. HFN believes that Norwich residents together have the power to make our town more accessible and inclusive, with more housing options and increased housing affordability in Norwich.
If you’re interested in learning more about Homes for Norwich and sharing your ideas about how to increase housing affordability in Norwich, please email info@HomesforNorwich.org .
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Officers
Marsha Price, President
Susan Barrett, Vice President
Brian Loeb, Treasurer
Karen Lubell, Secretary
Members
Linda Gray
Barbara Landau
Jeff Lubell