Windsor Selectboard to discuss funding for mixed-income housing project

WINDSOR –– The Windsor Selectboard is scheduled to hold a public hearing on Thursday night on funding to support a 30-unit planned development in downtown.

The project, named Central and Main and launched in 2020, is slated to be a newly constructed mixed-income housing complex located on town property on Main Street. It is expected to cost about $12.61 million.

“We’re very hopeful that this gets across the finish line,” Windsor Town Manager Tom Marsh said. “It will be good for downtown.”

Windham & Windsor Housing Trust is partnering with Evernorth, a nonprofit organization formed by the entities formerly known as Housing Vermont and Northern New England Housing Investment Fund, on the project, with the goal of providing new housing to support a range of incomes. The complex is set to include six units dedicated to households experiencing homelessness and two units that are accessible for people with disabilities.

A discussion about funding for the project is set to take place at 7 p.m. Thursday in the Selectboard chamber at the Windsor Town Hall and online via Google Meet.

The project’s development team will lead the discussion of potentially seeking a $500,000 Community Development Block Grant to help fund the project. Following the public hearing, the Selectboard is scheduled to vote on whether to move forward with the application for the grant.

So far, the developers have been awarded funding through the Vermont Housing Finance Agency Tax Credit allocation. The money received will likely cover around 55% of the project’s costs, or about $6 million.

Windsor’s Selectboard also allocated $200,000 from around $1 million of Windsor’s ARPA funds to the project. Other proposed funding includes grants or loans from sources like Green Mountain Power, Efficiency Vermont and the Upper Valley Loan Fund.

The project is spearheaded by Evernorth as part of its work to provide affordable housing to low- to mid-income people across northern New England.

If all goes to plan, once the necessary permits are acquired by the town, construction is slated to begin in the spring of 2023. Applications for housing at Central and Main will open about four months prior to construction being complete, likely around the spring of 2024.

More information about the project and Thursday’s meeting, including the link for the Google Meet, is online at windsorvt.org/selectboard.

Rose Terami can be contacted at rosoterami@gmail.com.