Each year, Vermont Finance Agency (VHFA) sells Vermont Affordable Housing Tax Credits to local financial institutions to fund affordable homes throughout the state. These homes will be sold to low- and moderate-income Vermonters (Homeownership Credits) and will help fund down payment assistance (DPA credits) for first-time homebuyers. This year, TD Bank, Union Bank, Passumpsic Bank, Northfield Savings Bank, and Peoples Trust Company purchased a total of $4.625 million in tax credits.
This year's series of Homeownership credits were awarded to developers of affordable homes in Burlington, Montpelier, Randolph, South Burlington, and Winooski. Homes receiving tax credits will be sold at prices affordable to moderate income households, retaining their affordability for future buyers should the owners sell the home in the future. The tax credits will also fund new energy-efficient mobile homes across the state through Champlain Housing Trust’s statewide Mobile Home Down Payment (MHDP) Loan Program.
Each year's DPA credits help fund VHFA’s Down Payment Assistance program. Since 2015, VHFA’s Down Payment Assistance program has helped 2,076 first-time homebuyers purchase homes in Vermont.
State housing tax credits are a sound financial instrument for institutions, and are an important investment in Vermont communities, which have an urgent need for more affordable homeownership opportunities. The Agency is grateful to this year's purchasers for their support of affordable housing in Vermont.
For more information about housing tax credits, visit https://vhfa.org/developers/lihtc.
Image: Rendering of a proposed 3-bedroom home on Heaton Street in Montpelier courtesy of Downstreet Housing.