MONTPELIER, Vt. — Two of the Vermont communities hardest hit by last summer’s catastrophic flooding have applied for $3.5 million in state funding to renovate 20 homes in Barre and the capital Montpelier for flood victims who still need safe places to live as the state grapples with a housing crisis.
Many whose homes were significantly damaged or lost are still recovering and saving homes is much cheaper than building new ones, they said at a Statehouse news conference.
“This is an urgent request. These are people who live – many – in places that are not entirely safe, but where they have nowhere else to go,” said Nicolas Storellicastro, Barre city manager. And those seeking a government buyout won’t know anytime soon whether that will happen, officials said.
“We have people living in dangerous situations who can’t wait that long,” said Montpelier City Manager Bill Frasier.
A Montpelier woman lives with her two children in a flood-damaged 1870s farmhouse, says City Councilor Lauren Hierl.
“After the flood they had nowhere to go. They have lived without floors and without walls. She cooked on the grill the whole time,” Hierl said.
The woman spent at least $40,000 drying out and demolishing the house, she said. She added insulation and subflooring and no longer has a bathroom on the first floor. If a foreclosure occurs, the bank will own the house, so she and her children will be homeless, Hierl said.
“Every day she and her children wake up and wonder if they will still have a home,” she said.
The demand comes during a tight budget year and city officials said they are grateful for the help they have already received. A spokesman for Republican Gov. Phil Scott did not immediately return an email seeking comment.
The July floods only worsened Vermont’s housing crisis and raising homes is a cost-effective way to keep people in their homes and in Vermont, officials said.
“It turns out there are safe ways to rebuild, even in flood zones,” said Vermont Senator Anne Watson, who previously served as mayor of Montpelier. “And part of that means lifting buildings or houses. That’s what this money would do. be used and to the extent that we can preserve housing, I think we should move in that direction.”