HARTFORD — The town is recruiting for a new housing and development specialist in an effort to support residential growth and to reduce the workload of current employees.

Recent updates to the housing and economic development chapters of the Town Plan over the past years include creating housing stock that matches the needs of the community and supporting businesses in village centers.

“Housing is a critical component to having economic growth in your community,” Lori Hirshfield, the director of the Planning & Development department, said in a phone interview. “Without it employees can’t move here and businesses can’t operate.”

While working on the Town Plan, the Selectboard, the Department of Planning & Development, and the Committee on Housing & Homelessness determined that in order to meet the housing goals, a new position was necessary.

“We want to be responsive to the community and we have to have the resources to do that,” Hirshfield said.

The town is looking for candidates with undergraduate degrees in planning, public administration, business, economics, political science, or another related field, and with at least three years of experience in housing and economic development, local, regional or state government, and community planning. The full-time position pays an annual salary of $63,502, plus benefits, according to the job description.

Hirshfield hopes the new position will free up some of the existing four staff members’ time.

“I’m working many, many hours beyond eight hours a day,” Hirshfield said. “All of the staff is trying to keep up.”

When Hirshfield joined in 1996, the department oversaw five town-appointed committees. Now the department oversees eight and a ninth, most likely on economic development, will be forming soon, she said. Overseeing committees is just one of the many roles the department has.

“Every year we increase our activities to be responsive to the community’s needs,” she said.

There are about 650 more people in Hartford now than in 1996, according to U.S. Census data.

The purpose of the new position is to implement and oversee initiatives that increase the “amount and diversity of housing in Hartford, as well as growing and sustaining Hartford’s economic base and viability,” according to the job description.

These initiatives could include technical assistance for residents who want to build accessory dwelling units, creating business associations for village centers, building climate change resilient infrastructure, and “providing housing so folks can afford to live in the community they grew up in,” Hirshfield said.

To meet demand between 2025 and 2029, Windsor County is projected to need an additional 2,051 to 3,120 homes, according to a report released by the Vermont Housing Finance Agency in June.

Since 2021, Hartford has issued permits for 465 new dwelling spaces, according to the Planning & Development Department.

“There’s a lot out there but it’s not anywhere close to what we need,” Hirshfield said.

Hartford’s walkability, water and sewer infrastructure, and “dedicated and knowledgeable professional staff,” make it a “great community” in which to develop housing, Andrew Winter, executive director of Twin Pines Housing, said.

Twin Pines Housing, a White River Junction-based nonprofit housing developer, manages several properties in Hartford, including an apartment building off of Route 5 in White River Junction with 18 one-bedroom units to permanently house chronically homeless community members that opened this fall.

“Anything that brings greater focus to improvements around regulations and infrastructure, and that brings to the front the need for conversations around housing and how to make creating housing of all types easier, I think is a benefit,” Winter said.

Ledgeworks, a redevelopment company based in Lebanon, is responsible for creating more than 300 housing units in the Upper Valley through redevelopment projects. Several of these projects are in Hartford, including 69 studio apartments at 132 South Main Street in White River Junction.

The company is currently in the process of converting the former Brookside nursing home on Christian Street into 38 apartments.

But creating additional homes is not simple.

“The cost is the driving challenge,” Tim Sidore, the chief of operations at Ledgeworks, said. “It’s a significant hurdle and presents barriers creating not just enough housing, but affordable housing and workforce housing, because regardless of who’s living there, the cost of construction isn’t any less.”

Construction costs $400 per square foot on average, Sidore said. He estimates that’s almost double from what it was 10 years ago.

As long as the town’s new position does not “create another layer of bureaucracy,” Sidore said it sounds like a good idea.

“My hope is that it’s someone that understands the challenges on the private side and can help translate to and from the municipal side,” he said.

There have been a few applicants since the job posting went up on Nov. 19, but Hirshfield said they’re still looking for more.

More information about how to apply is online at: https://tinyurl.com/458wve6v.

Emma Roth-Wells can be reached at erothwells@vnews.com or 603-727-3242.