Champlain Housing Trust will soon begin construction on 20 one-bedroom apartments at the former Ho Hum Motel on Williston Road in South Burlington. The Ho Hum was a 1950s era suite-style motel in South Burlington which CHT purchased in 2020 as part of our pandemic response supporting the State’s need to provide a quarantine and isolation motel for people who were experiencing homelessness. We are now embarking on the property’s next chapter: permanent housing with services for people who have been unhoused. The new homes will be named Braeburn Apartments.
Transforming motels into apartments is one efficient way CHT has created permanently affordable homes at a much lower cost than new construction – this conversion will cost less than half what it would to build 20 new apartments from scratch. To date, CHT has purchased nine hotels or motels for a variety of needs. Rent for Braeburn’s 600-square-foot apartments will be no more than 30% of a resident’s income, and will be ready for occupancy in September or October, 2023.