On November 16th, the Vermont Statewide Housing Conference recognized Kathy Beyer's enormous contributions to housing lower income Vermonters by selecting her for this year’s Housing Hero award. Currently serving as Senior Vice President for Real Estate Development at Evernorth, Beyer has had a long career both as developer and advocate, helping to generate hundreds of permanently additional affordable apartments across the state.
The award was presented by Sarah Phillips, Director of the Office of Economic Opportunity in Vermont’s Department for Children and Families. “Kathy has used her knowledge and expertise from the field to advocate for changes in policy which have made a key difference for people and communities,” Phillips said.
Identifying a Vermont Housing Hero has been a long-standing component of the biennial statewide conference that took place last week at the Hilton Burlington. With record-high registrations of 450 housing professionals and advocates, the conference featured national zoning expert Sara Bronin, followed by a day of break out sessions and networking opportunities focused on what each one of us can do to help solve the housing crisis. By bringing Vermonters with common goals but access to different types of levers affecting housing affordability together, conference planners sought to maximize its impact on the state’s severe housing needs.
Last week’s conference and the selection of the Housing Hero were guided by representatives from 17 statewide agencies with links to housing during a 6-month planning process.