Rockingham Area Land Trust votes to dissolve

Source: Brattleboro Reformer, April 9, 2011, by Howard Weiss-Tisman “ROCKINGHAM — The Rockingham Area Community Land Trust membership has approved a plan to dissolve the organization, paving the way for Windham Housing Trust to take over most of the group’s properties in Windham and Windsor counties. The RACLT membership voted unanimously for the dissolution at the group’s annual meeting which was held Thursday night in Springfield. The Springfield-based affordable housing group, which owns and manages more than 500 units in Bellows Falls, Westminster, Athens and 17 other towns in the two counties, has been working on the plan for more than a year. It has been increasingly difficult to manage and grow the organization in the current economic climate, and RACLT board Vice President Steve Geller said the board approached Windham Housing Trust to ensure that a local housing group will be able to continue serving the tenants. “It was a bittersweet decision,” Geller said Friday. “A lot of people have been involved with Rockingham Area Community Land Trust for a number of years and many of us would have preferred that this not happen, but ultimately we decided that this is the best thing for the tenants and for the housing they live in.” Over the past year both groups have been looking at the proposal. With federal and state funding drying up, the RACLT board decided that it did not make sense to compete with WHT for grants and programs. If the deal goes through, then WHT would manage all of the affordable housing across Southeastern Vermont. Once the agreement is final, WHT’s portfolio would almost double, and the group would manage more than 900 units. The details of how the deal will go through are still not settled, but generally RACLT will cease to exist and WHT will take over the assets and liabilities of most of the group’s properties…” Full Story: Rockingham Area Land Trust votes to dissolve PDF of Story: Rockingham Area Land Trust votes to dissolve

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