By: Leslie Black-Plumeau

April 27, 2016

Paul Dettman will retire this week as Burlington Housing Authority’s (BHA) Executive Director, a post he held for the past 20 years. With Dettman at the helm, the Burlington Housing Authority’s role has grown to managing over 600 affordable apartments and providing rental assistance to 1,700 low-income Chittenden County residents. In addition, Dettman partnered with VHFA to preserve the affordability of many area apartments when original federal contracts from the 1970s and 1980s expired and presented owners with opportunities to sell the buildings and change their use. The most recent properties to benefit from Dettman’s effective preservation strategies are Burlington’s Bobbin Mill and Wharf Lane apartment buildings. Dettman also has the distinction of managing the country’s smallest “tallest building in the state”—Burlington’s Decker Towers with 159 apartments for area low-income seniors and people with disabilities. 

Craig Zumbrun, former Executive Director of the York Housing Authority in Pennsylvania, will succeed Dettman at BHA. 

Dettman’s experience working in Vermont’s affordable housing community began at the Vermont State Housing Authority and Vermont Housing Conservation Board prior to his appointment at BHA.  His professional, impactful leadership and unbending support for the housing needs of area low-income households will be greatly missed. 

Photo: Paul Dettman and Janet Green, BHA Assistant Director of Rental Assistance, pictured in a 2011 Seven Days article.