Source: VPR Vermont Edition, January 7, with Bob Kinzel. Governor Peter Shumlin was on VPR for a live interview with Bob Kinzel on Vermont Edition, January 7, 2011 to discuss the issues and responsibilities before him and he answered an important question on affordable housing and homelessness. The question was from Morgan Brown, a local homeless and affordable housing advocate, which read as follows: During the 2010 gubernatorial campaign you promised to have affordable housing as well as ending homelessness be included among your top priorities, now that you’re governor, how are you going to make this campaign pledge reality? Governor Shumlin acknowledged that although we face tough economic times, we need to solve both of these problems. He echoed his announcement that he made at the January 5 Homeless Memorial Vigil, an additional allocation of $500,000 in the budget adjustments to homeless shelters and service providers. He is asking the legislature to pass this quickly, within four weeks, to ensure that the money gets out to the homeless shelters as soon as possible. He recognizes this urgency as Vermont’s homeless shelters face the highest demands they’ve ever had to. He also promised that no Vermonter will freeze because of homelessness. He also outlined plans to address affordable housing initiatives in Vermont; one would be to fund Vermont Housing and Conservation Board (VHCB) fully and adequately to ensure continued funding of low-income projects across Vermont. Another plan is to look at how we can more easily plan and build non-subsidized housing for the Vermont workforce. He recognizes that this plan is ambitious and yet he has faith in the housing team he’s put together and looks forward to the work to be done.
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