Is a Housing Study Needed?

The Rutland Redevelopment Authority plans to study the city’s housing needs.

The Board of Aldermen voted unanimously Monday to support the organization’s application for a $10,000 municipal plann...ing grant from the state to fund the study.

“We want to find out what the city has available and compare it to what was needed — what kind of senior housing is needed, what kind of single-family housing was needed,” RRA administrative assistant Barbara Allen told the board Monday.

Mayor Christopher Louras said Wednesday the need for such a study was pointed out by the recent census data showing Rutland’s population falling for a second census period in a row.

“With a great many vacancies in the city, we had to do some long-term planning to determine what levels and types of housing the city needs going forward,” he said.

Louras said he does not expect the population trend to reverse in the immediate future and that the city has more units under construction as Forest Park is rebuilt. He said city government influences the housing market through its sponsorship of grant applications for housing projects.

“It would stand to reason that if we have 100 available units of multifamily, it would not be the most prudent action to bring new ones on board,” he said.

Allen said Wednesday she did not know if the RRA would hire a consultant for the study or do the work in-house. She said she expects the grant application to go out in April and that the study would likely be conducted in the summer and completed some time in the fall.

The last such study, she said, was the Rutland County Housing Needs Assessment, spearheaded by the Rutland County Community Land Trust and published in January 2005.

Meanwhile, Allen said the RRA board conducted telephone interviews of some candidates for the executive director job Tuesday. The group had about 30 applicants, she said, mostly from New England and upstate New York. She said they intend to have someone in place by July 1, when the new fiscal year begins.