Greensboro residents are proud of their town, home to Willey's Store, Circus Smirkus, Highland Center for the Arts, Jasper Hill Farm and Hill Farmstead Brewery. And they know they need more affordable housing, a priority identified in the town plan. Enrollment at the local Lakeview Elementary School has fallen so low that the school almost closed in June, and people who want to work at local employers can't find homes to rent or buy.

"What is the vitality of your town if your young people can't afford to live here and raise their families?" asked Brett Stanciu, Greensboro's zoning administrator.

Patrick Shattuck has proposed a project that would help Greensboro develop more housing without losing its vital character. The picture-perfect village is anchored on one end by a large former school building with a roomy triangle of green front lawn. As executive director of RuralEdge, an affordable housing agency in the Northeast Kingdom, Shattuck hopes to put 24 apartments in the school and a separate building the agency would construct behind it.

The 1912 school building, a mix of American Craftsman and Colonial Revival design that is currently home to the tiny town offices and a one-room studio, "is a fantastic site," Shattuck said: It's in good shape, it's barely being used, and it's just steps away from Lakeview and its playground. "It's framed so nicely as a simple, symmetrical building."

RuralEdge is one of several affordable housing agencies that connect builders to state and federal loan and incentive programs. With prices for lending, land and construction materials at record highs, these agencies are the only developers building apartments in many of Vermont's rural areas.

RuralEdge is doing a feasibility study on the Greensboro project now and plans to apply for funding next year, with occupancy expected in 2026. The agency is also working on several other housing projects in the Northeast Kingdom, including renovating a former convent and school in Newport.

Shattuck grew up in South Burlington and spent his spare time trailing after his Realtor grandfather, absorbing the tenets of home design. As a second grader, he carried a Polaroid camera, graph paper and a ruler as he toured homes for sale. "I was a really nerdy little kid," he said. "I would draw floor plans during recess."

Later he studied architecture and historic preservation at Savannah College of Art and Design in Georgia. Today he applies his eye for design and attention to detail to the heavy work of securing grants, loans, tax credits and local permits, all with the goal of creating opportunities for affordable housing.

The Greensboro project checks all the boxes. "It's been well maintained," Shattuck said of the old school. "There's a lot of value in this structure, whether it's historic or not."

Dorms Reborn

Three former army barracks that were built at Fort Ethan Allen in 1904 are slated to become much-needed studio and one-bedroom apartments.

The three brick buildings, which straddle the town line between Essex and Colchester, once served as barracks for the 10th Cavalry, a regiment of Black soldiers nicknamed the "Buffalo Soldiers." They later became dorms for students at nearby Saint Michael's College. In the latest iteration, affordable housing developer Champlain Housing Trust will gut the buildings and turn them into 57 one-bedroom apartments and eight studios. They'll rent for a range of prices, and residents will have access to a community garden.

"We've really seen a need on our waiting list for smaller apartments," said Miranda Lescaze, the trust's director of real estate development. The first units should be ready by the end of next year, she said, and the rest by spring 2025.

Material Difference

Central Vermont Habitat for Humanity is using construction materials salvaged from a COVID-19 testing site to defray the costs of building a single-family home in Barre.

The metal roofing, support beams and two-by-fours would cost about $17,000 if purchased new, said Zachariah Watson, the organization's executive director. They will be used to build a cape on a city-donated lot that now hosts a derelict home.

Habitat relies on gifts large and small to keep its homes affordable. Skilled professionals help out on jobsites, and construction companies have installed new roofs and floors for free, Watson said.

"It's really meaningful for us, because construction costs are so high right now," he said. "It means more people have homes, and the homes will be somewhat affordable for them."

Barre, like other Vermont communities, was already facing a housing shortage when the July flooding destroyed or damaged about 100 homes. Replacing them is a tall order. Construction materials prices soared during the pandemic, and while they have stabilized in the past year, they're still high enough to deter many builders from creating mid-price or affordable housing.

Central Vermont Medical Center contacted Habitat to donate the materials after it closed its COVID-19 testing site in Berlin last year. Watson said he often hears from individual homeowners who want to donate supplies, but it can be difficult to integrate them into Habitat's projects.

"We oftentimes aren't able to use them for one reason or another," he said. "We build high-performance homes, and often used doors and windows aren't going to meet those standards."

But unused, uncut lumber can come in handy, Watson said: "It just requires a little more creativity."

By the Numbers: Short-Term Rentals

About 11,000 Vermont homes were used as short-term rentals over the summer, according to the data site AirDNA.

Among those listings are tiny houses such as the one Zach Walbridge and Katie Berke recently perched on a hillside in Warren. The 200-square-foot house, purchased from a company called ÖÖD House in Estonia, is a hit with vacationers, the two said: It's been booked solid since they first listed it in September 2022.

Walbridge and Berke — who live part time in Burlington and part time in Europe — bought two hillside acres, put in septic and electrical systems, drilled a well, and built a driveway to their little house, which is rented at an average of $400 a night. They expect their investment to pay off within five years, and they're looking for other sites.

"We're definitely planning to replicate the success we've had in Warren elsewhere in Vermont," Berke said.

10,764
The number of entire homes in Vermont listed on short-term rental sites in July.

342
The number of entire homes in Warren listed on those sites.

13 percent
The year-over-year increase in listings of entire short-term rental homes statewide.