Hi! I’m Beth, and I’ve been volunteering with the Fair Housing Project over the summer, working mainly on social media with Corrine and Jess. As a brief introduction, I’m currently finishing up my PhD in Anthropology at Brown University. I’m originally from the UK, but my partner grew up in Shelburne, and we moved back to Vermont in 2021.
Hiking in the Green Mountains after moving back to Vermont
PhD research
At first glance, it doesn’t seem like my PhD research has much to do with fair housing or thriving communities. I study herding communities and environments in the Peruvian Andes (think llamas, alpacas, and mountains) and how they responded to Spanish colonialism in the 16th century. More broadly, I’m interested in how rural communities renegotiate their lifeways in response to external changes. In the communities I study, responses often involve shifts in how people manage and use the environment. Today, for example, Andean herding communities have had to intensify wool production to meet increased global demand for wool, which is prized for its fineness and warmth. To do this, they’ve expanded wetland pasture so it can host more animals. I think similar shifts happened in response to Spanish colonialism: Spanish-operated mines relied on caravans of llamas to move goods between the highland mines and coastal ports. To meet increased transport demand, herders would have had to construct new infrastructure, such as corrals, along the route. Spanish colonialism was undoubtedly a violent period that led to the death of millions and the destruction of many Andean community practices. But because of a focus on this, and on the colonists themselves, less attention has been paid to understanding the diverse ways in which rural communities, in particular, responded to colonial policies.
The high-elevation (about 14,500 ft) herding landscape my PhD research is based in, in the Peruvian Andes
Housing
I’ve always been interested in housing, especially in rural areas. I grew up in a small coastal town in the UK and I see a lot of parallels between my hometown and where I live now, in Vermont, in terms of housing issues. In both places, housing inequities – in particular, rising housing costs and housing shortages caused in part by increased migration, second-home ownership, and short-term Airbnb-type rentals – have begun to hollow out our communities.
Short-term lets are increasingly impacting housing availability and community cohesion in rural areas
While we often, perhaps rightly, see these as threats to our homes, I think what’s more important is how we, as a community, respond to these changes. Like with Spanish colonialism and Andean herding communities, it is important to recognize both the major large-scale changes and the small-scale, local ways in which communities respond to these.
Manufactured (mobile) home communities are increasingly important within the Vermont housing ecosystem, because they provide affordable housing in a tight market. Recent news articles (part of the Seven Days “Locked Out” series have highlighted both the challenges manufactured home parks face and the ways in which they provide community for their residents.
Over the summer, I’ve used the Fair Housing Project’s Thriving Communities social media pages to highlight how people in Vermont and beyond are responding to housing challenges, whatever form these take. A lot of the news about housing in Vermont is bad – we all know the state is facing down a major housing crisis – but there has also been a lot of good stories and positive news!
A mural in Burlington, VT, that promotes fair housing and our right to housing free of discrimination. The mural was commissioned by Vermont’s Human Rights Commission and painted by Juniper Creative Arts.
I’ve learnt so much about the housing landscape in Vermont and the different agencies and organizations working to reduce housing inequities and discrimination across the state and it’s been great working with Jess, Corrine, and the others at the Fair Housing Project. Thank you!
On behalf of the Vermont Statewide Housing Conference Planning Committee, VHFA is seeking proposals for sessions at the 2022 Statewide Housing Conference, to be held on Wednesday, Nov. 16 in Burlington. For decades, this biennial conference has brought together practitioners, community members and policy leaders to nurture connection and innovation.
This year’s conference theme is “What YOU can do to solve the housing crisis.” The conference planning committee is inviting the housing community to submit proposals for sessions at the conference that speak to this theme. If you have an idea for a session you would like to facilitate at this year’s conference, please submit a brief description of the session and answer a few questions about it by completing the short web-based form.
Conference organizers hope to offer a wide range of session formats, including non-traditional approaches that make build off of the conference’s in-person nature and make creative use of technology and other mediums to engage attendees. Here are a few session topic examples:
Voices of Vermonters with lived experiences that reflect the diversity of our state
Ways to combat the housing crisis through direct local levers and partnerships
Systems for turning ideas and inspiration into personal action
Impact on affordability and CO2 emissions of municipal housing development requirements
Proposals will be accepted through June 30, 2022. Please direct any questions to conference@vhfa.org.
SHECP Intern Michelle Morgan with CVOEO Mobile Home Program team members Rick Castillo and Ryan Gerrity at the North Avenue Co-op in Burlington
*This is an excerpt from Michelle Morgan’s final report on her summer internship with CVOEO‘s Housing Advocacy Programs (HAP). Michelle is a sophomore at Washington and Lee University. This summer, she worked primarily with the Mobile Home Program and assisted with other HAP activities. We are grateful for her thoughtful and enthusiastic approach to the work and for the contributions she made to the HAP programs during her internship.*
By Michelle Morgan Shepherd Higher Education Consortium on Poverty (SHECP) Intern
I came into this internship knowing close to nothing about the intersections of poverty and manufactured housing – but I did come into this internship eager to learn; though I’ve never lived in a mobile home myself, I grew up in a rural, agricultural area of the country where they are a significant source of affordable housing. I was quick to find out during my first few days in the Mobile Home Program that mobile homes make up a significant source of affordable housing everywhere, which was only surprising to me in the sense that I was shocked at the lack of recognition they receive as such. Through working and talking with my team members, reading the 2018 Esther Sullivan ethnography Manufactured Insecurity, and engaging in directed research on state and local legislation regarding mobile homes and mobile home parks, I am happy to say that I will close this internship with a heartfelt understanding of the incredible importance of manufactured housing – not only when pertaining to low-income populations themselves, but in conversations regarding the affordable/fair housing crisis at large, and what solutions or pathways can be undertaken to help resolve it.
I am fortunate to have been able to gain this understanding at CVOEO in the state of Vermont, which I’ve come to know is on the vanguard of mobile home rights, regulations, and tenant-landlord responsibilities. Elsewhere in the country, and indeed in some parts of Vermont, mobile home residents live in a limbo between homeownership and land rentership, leaving them highly vulnerable to park sales, evictions, and rampant lot rent increases. The nature of manufactured housing also creates a limbo between permanence and mobility: many ‘mobile’ homes are actually immobile, with either structural deficiencies making them impossible to move without falling apart, transportation services costing thousands of dollars, or the straightforward issue of simply not having another lot to move the home to. On the converse, the ‘mobile’ aspect of manufactured housing often creates a fractured or unstable sense of ‘home’ and permanence that is essential to secure housing, while at the same time isolating mobile home parks and residents from the rest of the community due to structurally reinforced stigma and preconceived, stereotype-enforced bias against manufactured housing and the people that live in it.
Vermont, however, is unique in its recognition of the importance of mobile homes as a source of affordable housing security, with a variety of laws and regulations in place to prevent exorbitant rent increases and surprise park sales; the state, in coordination with organizations such as CVOEO and the Cooperative Development Institute (CDI), supports and offers help with the transition of parks from private to cooperative or nonprofit ownership, in which the park becomes owned by either the residents themselves or a housing trust. But this certainly does not mean that Vermont is perfect when it comes to protecting and empowering mobile home residents. I found this out within my first week or so of working here, through calling residents on the phone to have them complete a survey. While guiding residents through this survey over the phone, I heard time and time again concerns surrounding lot rent, community leadership and organization, quality of life, and long-term sustainability of the park in the market and in the community at large. Keep in mind that the residents I contacted lived in cooperatively-owned parks, which are considered to be the crème de la crème of mobile home communities in regards to resident advocacy and empowerment. So, I witnessed firsthand, right off the bat, that there remain miles and miles of progress to be made before fair, affordable, and secure housing is accessible and enjoyable for all.
I am more honored than anything to have been able to spend my summer contributing to closing that gap, even if only in small baby steps. Keeping in contact and conversation with my Shepherd Program Professional Learning Community (PLC) cohort, I recognize that I was incredibly fortunate to be able have an in-person internship, and that this aspect was crucial for the amount of agency involvement I was able to have, as well as the level of community involvement and engagement I experienced while living and working fully immersed in the greater Burlington community. Here are some of my proudest accomplishments from my time at CVOEO:
Expanded on the Mobile Home Program’s Civic Engagement & Emergency Preparedness Pilot Program by developing a Community Outreach Plan for the project’s second phase, which ultimately aims to build community cohesion and relationships.
Helped complete the final version of the first-phase project report.
Created a data-driven map on Google Earth Pro of all mobile home parks in Vermont as listed on the state registry, including the nature of ownership, park size, lot rent, and owning body.
Wrote a resident survey for preliminary feedback collection at parks, intended to gauge interest level for continued CVOEO involvement.
Participated in on-the-ground community outreach, during which I went door-to-door with one of my supervisors and had the opportunity to have conversations with mobile home community members in person.
Designed promotional materials for the Fair Housing Project’s Community Housing Discrimination Survey.
Participated in a monthly discussion group with the Housing Advocacy Programs team about Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor’s 2019 book Race for Profit.
All that I’ve learned about community, care, empathy, understanding, and action – within and without the workplace – has left an immense mark on my life: my story, my beliefs, my motivations, my passions, what drives me forward as a person. Here, in Burlington, through this internship, I’ve felt love, joy, kindness, generosity, compassion, warmth, and welcoming beyond what I could have ever imagined. I’ve been given the space and freedom to explore the depth and breadth of my capabilities both professionally and personally; my contributions have not been constrained by my status as merely “The Intern.” My coworkers and supervisors welcomed me into the team with open arms and cultivated a space and environment where meaningful, lasting work could come to be. My time in the Mobile Home Program has encouraged me to be the best person I can be, to do the best work I can do, to make the most difference I can make.
SHECP Intern Michelle Morgan speaks with a resident at North Avenue Co-Op in Burlington.
What I’m Coming Away With
My time at CVOEO has opened so many doors and illuminated endless opportunities in my life; it has changed my outlook on the world and the people that inhabit it; it has strengthened the values I hold dear to my heart, expanded on my personal abilities and professional skills, and illuminated my direction and purpose. Given that I’m still 18 years old, I think it’s fair to say that this internship – my first internship, something I never imagined would come along after only a year of college – has been my coming-of-age moment. Eight weeks of working in a nonprofit on the development and implementation of a project that has the potential to improve the livelihoods of mobile home park residents across Vermont, having my contributions acknowledged seriously and built upon, being able to go out into the community and interact with the people my agency serves – all of it, every little bit of it, has served to make it more clear than ever what I can accomplish, what I stand for, what I believe, what I find meaningful, who I am. It is, I believe, the true purpose of my existence to do as much good and spread as much positivity as humanly possible within my means. This internship has been fulfilling on a spiritual level, and has enabled me to dedicate myself to following my dreams and working toward the ultimate end goals of my life at large. CVOEO and the Mobile Home Program have taught me that not all the world is as bad as it may seem, especially during times like these. No, I can’t give up on humanity yet, because I’ve gotten to work with and know personally a handful of those people nationwide who dedicate their time and build their career around helping others. I feel blessed to have been a part of something so crucial to the integrity and empowerment of the Burlington community and beyond.
The Shepherd Higher Education Consortium on Poverty (SHECP) encourages the study of poverty as a complex social problem, by expanding and improving educational opportunities for college students in a wide range of disciplines and career trajectories. Through its programs, SHECP and its member institutions prepare students for a lifetime of professional and civic efforts to diminish poverty and enhance human capability, while also supporting connections among students, faculty, staff, and alumni engaged in the study of poverty.
Until October 3 at the latest, unless a court strikes it down sooner.
If, at any point, a county no longer experiences a substantial rate of transmission, the moratorium will expire 14 days later (unless we return to substantial transmission rates during that 14 day period, and then it kicks back in).
What does the new eviction moratorium do?
It bars a landlord from filing an eviction case if the tenant has asserted their rights under the moratorium. It also stays nonpayment eviction cases already filed if the tenant has asserted their rights.
NOTE:If a case or notice of termination is for both nonpayment and breach, the case could still move forward based on the breach.
Does the new eviction moratorium apply to all eviction cases?
No. It only applies to evictions for nonpayment of rent for eligible tenants who have asserted their rights.
Are all tenants eligible?
No. They have to meet the eligibility criteria on the Eviction Protection Declaration Form. The tenant MUST give the form to their landlord to assert their rights to the protection. The tenant should keep a copy of the form. If there’s already a case pending in court, they should submit a copy to the court.
If the tenant has a case pending in court, the tenant should call Legal Services Vermont/Vermont Legal Aid at 800-889-2047. When they leave a message, they should say that they have a pending eviction case and their county
NOTE: If the tenant is exercising their rights under the moratorium, they are swearing to try to access all forms of rental assistance available. And here in Vermont, that’s VERAP. If the tenant refuses to apply for rental assistance, they should not use the form. They must follow through with applying for VERAP if they are asserting their rights under the moratorium.
Should tenants get legal advice before using the form?
Sure, if they want! Call Legal Services Vermont/Vermont Legal Aid at 800-889-2047. Leave a message as the intake staff are not taking live calls. It can take up to 7 business days to get a callback because of an extremely high call volume. If a tenant is running up against a deadline, they should indicate in their voicemail what deadline is coming up. The intake staff tries to prioritize callbacks where the person identifies a critical deadline. But for the most part, if the person qualifies based on the simple questions on the form and is willing to apply for VERAP, I don’t see a reason not to use it.
ft. Brenda E. Patoine Freelance Writer/Reporter/Photojournalist for COVID Support VT
This guest blog feature is by Brenda E. Patoine Freelance Writer/Reporter/Photojournalist working with COVID Support VT. COVID Support VT helps people cope with the pandemic through education, emotional support and connections to community services that promote resilience, empowerment and recovery. CVOEO’s Fair Housing project welcomes our partners to add their voices to our Thriving Communities blog. Please send inquiries to fhp@cvoeo.org Continue reading Join COVID Support VT for a Virtual Town Hall on Housing Assistance: 5-7pm Feb. 4→
