WILLISTON, Vt. (WCAX) – More than $15 million is on the way to 46 mobile home parks across Vermont. The goal is to fund infrastructure upgrades on drinking, septic and stormwater systems. As our Jodi-Juliana Powell reports, the money is a relief for a Williston-based co-op.
“When we found out that we were going to get the award, it was a lot of tears of joy,” said Lou Ann Pioli, the property manager at Williston Woods, a housing co-op for Vermonters 55 and older.
Pioli says residents are having problems with septic buildup and there’s a lack of a storm drainage system, but affordability for the fix was a major concern.
“The project costs would have probably bankrupted this community,” Pioli said.
Pioli says the septic systems in the mobile home community are in need of serious repairs.
“We have five for 112 households. They were all put in at the same time, about 1993 or so, and they are starting to fail; they’re old,” Pioli said.
The Chittenden County co-op is not the only one having these problems. Many communities that got a piece of the $15 million in funding from across Vermont were built in the 1960s and ‘70s and have not had much maintenance since.
“The time is now to get those done, especially given the fact that we are facing a housing crisis in the state and as much as we can keep people in their homes, that is what this program is for,” said Marjorie Klark, the supervisor of the Healthy Homes Initiative for the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources.
Klark says communities that are getting the funding are filled with low- to moderate-income people, and without it, they would be forced to foot the bill. That could lead to rising rent and put the housing of many residents in jeopardy.
“It would probably double or triple what we are paying per month now. People that are on fixed incomes can’t afford that,” said Cheryl Walker, a resident of Williston Woods.
The state says funding these projects will help keep monthly rates affordable and allow residents to stay in their homes. The money will help an estimated 5,000 residents across Vermont.
The Agency of Natural Resources plans to distribute water infrastructure funds in the next few months.