Fair housing

VHFA is pleased to be a sponsor of the 2024 April Fair Housing Month kick off event “Just Action” with authors Leah & Richard Rothstein on April 1 starting at 5:30pm at Main Street Landing Performing Arts Center in Burlington. This free event and statewide housing justice book club will promote community-based solutions to housing segregation and exclusion.  

Equal access to residential housing (i.e. housing choice) is a fundamental right that is critical to personal, professional, and community development. If equal opportunity is to become a reality, fair housing is a goal that public officials and private citizens must embrace.

To that end, the State of Vermont is planning a comprehensive Analysis of Impediments to Fair Housing Choice (AI) to further the goal of fair housing and satisfy requirements of the Housing and Community Development Act.

A preliminary survey is underway to collect input of housing & nonprofit professionals across the state. 

This article was written by VHFA Spring Housing Fellow Christina Cramer

April is Fair Housing Month, an opportunity to celebrate the anniversary of the passage of the 1968 Federal Fair Housing Act, while also increasing our efforts to end housing discrimination, expand housing opportunity and raise awareness of housing rights.

The Fair Housing Project of the Champlain Valley Office of Economic Opportunity (CVOEO) and statewide partners are hosting a number of events throughout the month. These include: 

Champlain Housing Trust (CHT) is now accepting applications for the Vermont Farmworker Housing Repair Loan Program. The program allows farm owners to make repairs and improvements to their farmworker housing to help improve the health and welfare of the farm workforce. The application deadline is April 29.

A 2021 report commissioned by the Vermont Housing & Conservation Board (VHCB) estimates that there are around 600 dwellings housing about 2,000 hired farmworkers in Vermont, with the majority based in Addison, Franklin and Orleans Counties. 

This article was written by VHFA Spring Housing Fellow Christina Cramer

The Vermont Housing & Conservation Board updated and re-issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) last week regarding the design and launch of a statewide initiative to address racial justice and equity in housing. The initiative will be guided by a steering committee comprised of representatives from NeighborWorks Alliance of Vermont, NeighborWorks America, VHFA, and other to-be-identified stakeholders. The goal of the initiative is to examine how racial inequities impact Black, Indigenous, and People of Color living in Vermont and identify actions, on both policy and programmatic levels, which expand access to affordable housing for all Vermonters.

The Fair Housing Project of CVOEO and the Vermont Human Rights Commission are conducting a survey on the prevalence of housing discrimination in Vermont. The results will be used to design better strategies to ensure fair and equitable housing choice for everyone. The survey deadline is July 30, 2021.

The Vermont Housing & Conservation Board issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) this week regarding the design and launch of a statewide initiative to address racial justice and equity in housing. The initiative will be guided by a steering committee comprised of representatives from NeighborWorks Alliance of Vermont, NeighborWorks America, VHFA, and other to-be-identified stakeholders. The goal of the initiative is to examine how racial inequities impact Black, Indigenous, and People of Color living in Vermont and identify actions, on both policy and programmatic levels, which expand access to affordable housing for all Vermonters.

Vermont learned last month that its population grew by a slim 2.8% between 2010 and 2020, less than the national average of 7.4%. But by planning to invest millions in American Rescue Plan Act funds in homes and neighborhoods, Vermont policy makers have embraced the opportunity presented by this decade to accelerate community and economic vibrancy. Last week, the Vermont legislature ended its session with a proposed 2022 state budget allocation for housing of $190 million of these federal recovery funds.