COVID-19 takes its greatest toll on the most vulnerable, oppressed, and marginalized in our communities.

The National Fair Housing Alliance reported an uptick in housing discrimination complaints throughout the pandemic, some of our hardest hit communities nationally included homeless populations and low-income, essential workers, the pandemic disproportionately affected people of color and housing advocates argue the nation’s history of housing segregation is at fault. The pandemic has forced our housing communities to adapt in many ways.

The good news is that here in Vermont we have pulled out some remarkable solutions. This spring housing advocates effectively temporarily ended homelessness in our state. Our own Champlain Housing Trust garnered national attention with this Shelterforce article for its ingenuity with the pre-exisiting Harbor Place, a former motel purchased by Champlain Housing Trust to provide services and transitional housing to homeless individuals. In Woodstock, a mutual aid group, the Woodstock Area Relief Fund, raised $320,000- nearly half of which went to rent and mortgage relief. Vermont passed an eviction moratorium,  a critical but complicated law which gave renters much needed relief during a time when unemployment was skyrocketing and many did not know when they would return to the workforce. In April we hosted a Fair Housing Friday about  renters’ rights during COVID-19 highlighting the eviction moratorium, which has been extended to Sept. 30. New reports show that Vermont has the 2nd lowest rate of pandemic-related housing insecurity. And this month the Rental Housing Stabilization Program started receiving applications.

If you missed our most recent Fair Housing  Friday webinar about the Rent Stabilization program, you can watch the full video here.

The Rental Stabilization funds landlords on behalf on tenants who are in need of help paying past due rent. The program is intended to prevent folks from being evicted so that people can safely shelter in place during the pandemic. For this reason, people can apply even if their rental arrearage is not strictly related to the pandemic and *may* be able to use the program for back rent from before the pandemic. Both the tenant and the landlord have to apply. The program has $25 million and applications are first come, first serve. Applicants have to be income-eligible and their rent has to meet the affordability requirements set by Vermont Housing Finance Agency,  about $1,464 for a two-bedroom apartment in the Burlington and South Burlington area, and $1,199 for a two-bedroom in Central Vermont. Two weeks into the program, already an estimated 1,400 households applied for rental assistance.

Some of the questions asked during the webinar:

Q: If I have two tenants behind on rent applying for Rental Rehabilitation program and I only want to keep one of the tenants as a renter, can I apply for one renter and not the other?

A: That sounds like a violation of the Fair Housing Act. It would depend on the situation, and we caution everyone to head state and federal fair housing laws that protect against specific tenants from protected classes.

The point of the program is to provide rental arrearage money so that everyone stays housed where they are.

Q: A lot of the callers to Vermont Tenants hotline don’t have access to the internet and won’t be able to download even a pdf of the application. Where would we refer folks for assistance?

A: You can download the pdf on your phone using mobile data. If you are unable to do that, you can work with your landlord to get the application, call Community Action, call Vermont LegalAid, or call the Vermont State Housing Authority for the application to get mailed to you.

Q: What is the turnaround time for the application?

A: There are 10 working days for Vermont State Housing Authority to respond to the application, which may be a confirmation of a yes – in which case the payment will go directly to the landlord on the 1st and 3rd week of the month, or it may be a referral to Vermont LegalAid.

Q: Will tenants be denied if they indicate on the application that their rent is unsustainable?

A: No. That question is there only if people have the option to move to a more affordable place, and needs help to pay for rent for a more affordable apartment.

Q: If a tenant has already submitted their portion of the application and the landlord has not, how does the tenant move forward?

A: The Vermont State Housing Authority will match applications. If we are not able to get the landlord portion of the application, we will refer the tenant to Vermont LegalAid. If your landlord says they won’t submit an application, you can ask them to call the Vermont Landlord Association. Ultimately, a landlord cannot be forced to apply for the program.

The Vermont State Housing Authority has a full FAQ page which can be found here.
Applications for the Rental Stabilization Program can be found here.

There were a lot of resources we referenced in the webinar, and the full list has been uploaded here.

Always, we ask that if you have questions or concerns about your tenancy, please call our Vermont Tenants Hotline at (802) 864-0099