Ana Mejia spent much of her youth moving from one place to the next. The daughter of immigrants from El Salvador, she recalls her parents’ constant struggle to find stable housing in Southern California. “Every time the rent would increase, we would up and move again.” That transiency continued as Ana pursued college, then grad school, then study abroad interspersed with short-term internships. When she moved to Vermont in 2018 to accept a year-long internship with AmeriCorps, she was determined to settle down.

“I knew I wanted to own a home and set roots down,” says Ana. Her dream became a reality in September of 2020 when she purchased her single-family home in Hartland.

Even before she became a homeowner, Ana found connection and engagement with her new, chosen community. She volunteered with Cover Home Repair, an Upper Valley non-profit that provides weatherization and home repair for low income households. “I like to volunteer and get involved – that connection is important to me,” she says. It didn’t take long for Ana to feel engrained in the community. She started researching the process of buying a home.

The GMHR team worked with the homeowners for close to three years. “The process involved a tremendous amount of work addressing environmental review and historic elements, and three different funding sources,” says Jerry. “ I don’t think we’ve ever done anything like that before. Looking back, it was a fifty, sixty thousand dollar project — and that was before COVID pricing. There were a lot of elements, and it all came together pretty darn well.”

In order to qualify for the program, an applicant’s household income needs to be no more than 80 percent of their county’s median household income. That number varies according to county and the number of people in the household. Applications range from senior citizens on fixed income, to young families, to people needing to address accessibility. “We have a lot of people who come back into the program over the years, which is always the best compliment you can get,” says Tara.

Finding good contractors is a big part of Dave and Jerry’s job, and key to the success of the program. “If we have a good contractor, we have to do everything we can to make the process as straightforward as possible for them,” says Jerry. “Those folks are a real asset to our program.” 

“The good contractors are gold for us,” adds Dave.

The GMHR team understands that home repair is just part of the big picture for many of the homeowners they meet. “There are cases where I end up being friends with the owners we work with,” says Jerry. “Some of these people have so many issues they are trying to work through; sometimes the conversation can’t help but segue into various other things going on. Some people just want someone to talk to.”

In those cases, the team agrees it’s helpful when a case manager is working with the family. “That way, you know that they are being connected to other resources beyond what we can do in the Repair program,” says Tara. 

Jerry recalls one of the program’s success stories that he is particularly proud of. “There was a case up in Whitingham where I did an inspection, and the scope of work was replacing an old and faulty boiler. We always check for smoke and carbon monoxide detectors, and I noted a couple were missing. So the homeowner got right on them, before the boiler was replaced. Long story short, there was a malfunction with the boiler, and carbon monoxide was released into the home. The detector picked up on that, sounded and got them out of the house. The fact that we had been able to point out that deficiency, potentially saved them from harm. Anytime a project ends well and it’s a happy outcome, that’s a good one for me.”

Dave says his favorite success stories all share a common theme. “Those people are all still in their homes. I consider that a measurement of success.

“Everything in my life has happened that way — total serendipity — nothing has been planned, it just happens.”

It took a few years, but finally in 1995 Robert — now the sole owner of the house — took another trip to Vermont, and this time he stayed. “I didn’t really realize I was moving there,” he jokes. Robert describes the state of Bellows Falls at that time as dismal.

“Pretty much 70% of the downtown was vacant at that point — boarded up and vacant. I thought, if I’m going to be here, maybe I can use my background in the arts to create some activity.” And so he did. He started hosting events and initiating public art projects. He founded the Rockingham Arts and Museum Project (RAMP) to further integrate the arts into the community. He brought the Bread and Puppet Theater to town for a memorable performance in the Square. He went to public meetings across the State and represented Bellows Falls with pride and enthusiasm. He became an avid supporter of any project or initiative designed to revitalize Bellows Falls.

When Rockingham Area Community Land Trust (now WWHT) wanted to redevelop the Exner Block into affordable housing, they asked Robert to share his vision for the building. “I said it would be great if we could give preference to artists. They agreed, and asked me to work with them as a community sponsor. I would attend the weekly meetings with the architects and construction team, give input on the building, and then as it got closer to opening, brought continued attention to the building so that when it opened, we had leases signed and applications in. I was kind of a local presence to support the project.”

Since the Exner Block redevelopment, Robert has remained deeply involved in a number of housing projects — currently with WWHT’s Bellows Falls Garage project — always lending support and enthusiasm; always a model for making the community “housing ready.” In another serendipitous turn, Robert owns two houses adjacent to the Garage property. He was thrilled when he heard the Housing Trust was looking at the garage.

“It was like my prayers had been answered,” says Robert. “I reached out and said if there is any way that I can be supportive to the project let me know.”

Robert used his status as a trusted neighbor, activist and property owner to rally support for the two-year project, tirelessly attending every meeting and promoting the economic benefit for the downtown. He even housed the construction crew in one of his houses. “I couldn’t be more pleased with Windham & Windsor Housing Trust to have the vision to move forward with that building, and be persistent because that’s a building that no one was ever going to touch and work with.”

Robert credits the excellent guidance of Elizabeth Bridgewater for seeing the Garage project through. “And clear-headedness,” he adds. “Elizabeth was great about hosting public meetings about the building and its progress, and she can handle the diversity of things that happen in a crowd. She did a spectacular job of listening to people’s concerns, reacting to them, making some changes, and moving forward.”

It means local families get the best start to homeowner­ship. It means we can support a neighbor through retain­ing their home despite the economic hardship brought on by COVID. It means we can continue to adapt to and address community challenges through innovative and sys­tems-based approaches, like bringing the SASH model to families. It means you are a part of the movement to ad­dress Vermont’s housing crisis and help family and friends gain access to healthy and stable homes. It means working together to support our communities’ vitality. 

We started 35 years ago in the Clark, Canal Street neigh­borhood in Brattleboro. We’ve grown from there to create and retain permanently affordable homes across our two southeastern counties of Vermont. We’ve done this, and will continue to do this, with you. Thank you for contributing to this movement and to your community.