Brattleboro, VT — Windham & Windsor Housing Trust has released its 2025 Annual Report, highlighting a year of significant progress in expanding housing opportunities, preserving existing homes and supporting residents throughout southeastern Vermont.
Centered on the theme “Delivering on the Mission,” the report demonstrates how WWHT is responding to the growing affordability challenges facing Vermont communities through housing development, housing preservation, resident services and community partnerships.
“As national priorities increasingly overlook the lived realities of rural communities, we remain focused on practical solutions that help people find stability and opportunity,” says Windham & Windsor Housing Trust Board Chair Leo Schiff. “For us, affordability is not a buzzword. It is at the core of our work and our response to address the cost-of-living crisis experienced by so many families today.”
The report highlights a year of substantial progress in creating permanently affordable homes in 2025. In Windsor, WWHT completed and opened Central & Main Apartments, welcoming 25 households to new energy-efficient homes in the downtown village center. Construction also advanced on Alice Holway Drive in Putney, which will add another 25 affordable homes to the region, while the organization secured permits and financing for Phase I of the Chalet Redevelopment in West Brattleboro, a transformative project that will ultimately create 70 affordable homes, including both rental and homeownership opportunities.
“What makes these communities special is that they will remain affordable for generations,” says Elizabeth Bridgewater, WWHT Executive Director. “These homes are protected from the speculative forces of the housing market and provide lasting opportunities for middle- and lower-income households to build stable, thriving lives.”
The organization also secured funding to redevelop the historic Holton Home in Brattleboro into 21 permanently affordable apartments, including supportive housing opportunities for individuals with developmental disabilities.
Beyond new construction, the report highlights WWHT’s efforts to preserve and improve existing housing. Through the Green Mountain Home Repair Program, the organization assisted 24 households with critical repairs that allow residents to remain safely and independently in their homes. Through the Vermont Housing Improvement Program (VHIP), WWHT helped bring 53 rental units back online by partnering with private property owners to rehabilitate housing that was previously unavailable or in significant disrepair.
The report also highlights WWHT’s growing investment in resident wellbeing. Through its SASH and SASH for All programs, the organization helps residents access healthcare, social services and community resources that support housing stability and improved health outcomes. Operated in partnership with Brattleboro Housing Partnership, SASH for All served 188 actively engaged participants in 2025, completed 75 referrals to critical services, and coordinated more than 157 community events and activities.
These services play an increasingly important role as many households face challenges that extend beyond housing costs alone, including healthcare access, income inequality and a strained social safety net.
WWHT’s impact was also reflected in its work addressing homelessness. In 2025, 41 percent of new leases at self-managed properties were made to individuals exiting homelessness, helping residents move toward long-term stability and community connection.
Today, WWHT stewards 912 rental apartments, 152 shared-equity homes, and 42 mobile home lots throughout southeastern Vermont while continuing to expand housing opportunities through development, preservation, stewardship and resident support services.
“The stories and data in this report demonstrate that housing is about more than buildings,” says Bridgewater. “It is about ensuring that people can remain in their communities, age with dignity, access the support they need, and build meaningful connections with their neighbors. Every home created, every home repaired, and every resident supported moves us closer to a future where everyone has access to a safe, stable, and permanently affordable place to live.”
The complete 2025 Annual Report is available at HomeMattersHere.org.
