FIRST TIME HOMEOWNERS Winooski couple buy their first home OWNERSHIP HELPS FAMILY STAY IN STATE Sarah and Colin Robinson were high-school sweethearts growing up in Brattleboro. They were drawn to settle down in Burlington after graduating from college because of their desire to live in a place that supported their values. “We loved Vermont […]
ARTISTS IN RESIDENCE ART IS LIFE > couple moves back to Burlington to raise their family AFFORDABILITY IN THEIR CHOSEN COMMUNITY [story written in 2012] Inside an old brick building that started life as a bakery, Ted and Winnie Looby are raising their four children in a housing cooperative for working artists. “It’s really […]
A NEW HOME IN AN OLD HOUSE … loan fund helps a couple steward a house into its next phase of life A LOAN WITH A MISSION KEEPS A HOME SOUND In 2010, Harvey and Mary Carter bought a light-filled 1870 farmhouse in South Hero. They were making a major life change—retiring from running a […]
A LIFE OF ADVOCACY “The most significant thing about living in this co-op is very simple…It’s still affordable after all these years.” For a stretch of meetings, when Richard Kemp sat on the Board of the Champlain Housing Trust, virtually every meeting ended with him asking, “What are we going to do to house […]
MANY HOMES ALL UNDER ONE ROOF Nancy achieves the American Dream HOUSING SECURITY AND MOBILITY Nancy Taylor’s experiences with the Champlain Housing Trust have spanned more than a decade and a range of services: from an affordable apartment to the house she shares with her dog, Liselle, and an affordable home repair loan. She […]
HOME SWEET HOME It was meant to bee IF AT FIRST YOU DON’T SUCCEED… Early in June, Rita Murphy and a neighbor donned their beekeeping suits and headed out to the tree where a swarm of bees had alighted. They shook the branch once, and a group of bees fell on them. They shook it […]
SAFE AND SOUND A dream home in the making Three years after buying her dream home and weathering an incident where it “rained in the living room,” Martina LeClerc realized she needed help. I knew it was mine before I even walked in the house,” Martina says of her 1900 farmhouse in Fairfield, but the […]
FROM THE GROUND UP The architecture of planned giving BUILDING THE FUTURE Patricia Fontaine comes from a line of people interested in buildings – her grandfather was a master carpenter and her father was a building contractor, so she spent weekends as a kid tagging along to look at buildings her dad was working on. […]
SEASONS OF CHANGE A homeowner’s staying power “I want to stay in my home,” says Annette Koch, sipping a hot cup of tea in her kitchen. She and her (now-ex) husband raised their four children in this historic home in Fairfax Village, and it is full of the family’s memories. On Christmas Eve, 15 […]
LEAP OF FAITH When timing becomes everything Rachel and Steven Phillips moved in with friends in Milton, Vermont, in 2008. They were eager to start a School for the Arts and share their love of dance and drawing with the local community. Rachel is an accomplished ballerina, her career spanning work with the Royal […]
A Place In History Everything old is new again Gillian Franks has lived in a lot of homes with history. She grew up in a red brick Victorian, her bedroom nestled in the roof in what was once the children’s nursery. During her marriage, she and her (now-ex) husband purchased two homes, one built […]
I Have A Future Here Building a community where people care Heather Gruen approaches home improvements with an eye both to the past and the future. Her vision is eco-friendly and involves reusing historical items. “It’s a matter of being patient, finding the right thing and being creative with how you use it,” she explains. […]
