Executive Director Sarah Carpenter joined Congressman Peter Welch, Addison County Community Trust (ACCT), Cathedral Square Corporation (CSC) and other partners yesterday to celebrate the opening of McKnight Lane, Vermont’s first net-zero energy affordable housing community. Formerly a blighted mobile home park, McKnight Lane is a vibrant, new, affordable rental community featuring Vermods, modular, high-efficiency homes manufactured in Wilder, Vermont.
Development
VHFA seeks public input on state's most urgent rental housing needs
VHFA's Executive Director Sarah Carpenter announced today that interested parties are invited to submit comments on how housing tax credits are allocated. Housing tax credits are Vermont’s primary funding source for developing affordable rental housing. The comments will be considered during this year’s upcoming revisions to Vermont’s Qualified Allocation Plan (QAP). As administrator of the housing tax credit program, VHFA allocates credits to specific projects in accordance with identified State needs and Federal requirements outlined in the Vermont QAP. Vermont’s inter-agency Joint Committee on Tax Credits reviews allocation policies and process and makes recommendations on the QAP to VHFA’s Board of Commissioners.
Updates to Vermont Fire & Building Code take effect October 10, 2016
The Vermont Department Fire Safety announced last week that on October 10, 2016 the 2015 Vermont Fire & Building Safety Code will take effect.
The Code establishes the process to obtain a construction or operating permit, lists the codes and standards that are adopted and describes the process used to evaluate and grant a variance or exemption from the Code.
Training offered in October on accessible and adaptable multifamily housing
Accessibility Matters is offering an online training program called “Home Sweet Accessible Home: Mitigating Liability in Accessible / Adaptable Multifamily Housing” on October 10th, 12th or 19th, 2016.
Learn more and register.
Twenty-three affordable apartments constructed in Hinesburg
Champlain Housing Trust opened a new apartment complex last week in Hinesburg constructed by Snyder Homes. The 23-unit complex includes 1, 2 and 3 bedroom units with rents ranging from $800 to $1,200 per month.
Federal and state housing tax credits allocated by VHFA provided 64% of the funding needed for the project's development. Additional partners included Vermont Housing Conservation Board, Vermont Community Development Program, the federal HOME program and Housing Vermont.
Read more in Vermont Business Magazine.
New fact sheets show impact and need for housing tax credits in VT
In Vermont, the federal Low-Income Housing Tax Credits allocated by VHFA have financed 6,513 apartments, providing affordable homes to 15,175 low-income Vermont households and supporting 7,360 jobs. However, 15,061 households in Vermont still pay more than half of their income towards rent, and the average minimum wage worker has to work 89 hours per week in order to afford a modest-two bedroom apartment, underscoring the need to expand the Housing Credit.
White House releases housing development tool kit for communities
In response to declining housing affordability in many parts of the country, the White House released a report this week on best practices for reducing local housing development barriers. The accumulation of these barriers has reduced the ability of many housing markets to respond to growing demand, the report explains.
Demand drives new home construction in northwest Vermont
Demand for apartments and denser neighborhoods is driving home construction in Chittenden and Franklin counties this year according to a recent article in Vermont Business Magazine that surveyed area builders and housing experts, including VHFA Executive Director Sarah Carpenter.
Carpenter explained that "more people are delaying the purchase of their first home and that in turn has put pressure on the rental market."
The number of multifamily project building permits in the Burlington South Burlington area shot up 72% during the first half of 2016 over the same period a year earlier, according to the National Association of Home Builders.
The critical, and mathematical, role of tax credits and other sources in housing low-income Vermonters
Ever wonder why it's not easier to build affordable apartments? A new interactive tool developed by the Urban Institute illustrates the mathematical necessity of tax credits, loans, tenant income/rent and grants in paying for the costs of affordable housing. Check it out to see if you can make the math work!
With a constantly evolving funding toolbox, VHFA's skilled development and multifamily management staff work with Vermont's affordable rental housing developers and managers day in and day out to overcome these challenges and maximize the number of affordable apartments available for low-income Vermonters.
Housing tax credits help renovate Lyndonville's Darling Inn
Thanks to VHFA housing credits and other funding sources, the historic Darling Inn, a perpetually affordable apartment building in Lyndonville, reopened its doors this weekend with much celebration. Executive Director, Sarah Carpenter, joined Senator Patrick Leahy and other partners at Saturday’s ribbon cutting.