Facts: Neighbors survey

Experienced developers of affordable housing are used to hearing neighbors’ concerns about the impact of the new development on their roads, schools, taxes and general sense of community. However, once a project is completed and the new neighbors have moved in, it’s common to hear variations on, “Gee, this wasn’t so bad after all.”

Maura Collins, Vermont Housing Finance Agency’s Research and Policy Analyst, recently completed a project that shows how big an attitude change can be once people get to know their neighbors. Maura conducted a survey of residents living in the area around Anderson Parkway in South Burlington, an 18-unit development that was completed in the spring of 2001. She asked people about their concerns when the project was being developed and how they felt about it 2 years later.

She heard a list of concerns not unfamiliar to housing developers — loss of open space, increased traffic, and decreased property values were the top three. But after 2 years, attitudes changed. The number of complaints dropped 60%, and the level of support for the project rose from 55% to 72%.

“These results proved not only to be positive for the Anderson Parkway neighbors, but the data will be helpful for future developments, such as the Lake Champlain Housing Development Corporation project in Shelburne, which is the same model and design of housing as Anderson,” Maura said.

She also noted the results of her survey point up to the need for housing developers to address community concerns in a project’s early stages and make community education and outreach a priority.

Read Maura's survey, part of her Master’s program at St. Michael’s College.

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