Data and Statistics

Need an affordable apartment or know someone who does?  There are vacancies in 24 different apartment complexes across the state, according to the Vermont Directory of Affordable Rental Housing. Find out more about particular units by visiting the vacancy profiles online.​

Chittenden County has the biggest imbalance between its share of VT jobs and homes, according to recent VHFA analysis. Although 33% of the state's jobs are in Chittenden County, the state is home to only 28% of the state’s workers and only 25% of the state’s homes. This is likely caused in part by workers living in Franklin County, where the share of homes outnumbers the share of jobs, who commute to Chittenden County for work.

Washington County also has an imbalance similar to Chittenden’s, but on a much smaller scale.

The recent annual report on rental housing from Harvard University's Joint Center for Housing Studies (JCHS) has found that although the national demand for rental housing has decreased slightly overall, there is still significant need for housing affordable to low-income renters.

The U.S. Census Bureau is offering Local Update of Census Addresses (LUCA) 2020 Workshops for Vermont cities and towns, in partnership with the Vermont State Data Center and the Vermont Center for Geographic Information. For your convenience, workshops will be hosted at two sites. A webinar is also being offered.  

When the Senate and House released their initial tax reform proposals last week in Washington, Vermont's Congressional delegation went to work to protect valuable resources that are part of the tax code, such as private activity bonds and housing tax credits.  Tax programs are responsible for most affordable housing developed in Vermont in the past 30 years.

Vermont Governor Phil Scott joined legislative and housing leaders in a press conference last week to update the public on the first year progress of the Building Homes Together campaign.

Goal

In an effort to increase the availability of affordable homes in Vermont, Champlain Housing Trust teamed up with Chittenden County Regional Planning Commission and Housing Vermont to set a goal of 3,500 new homes within 5 years, with 20% of them being permanently affordable.

In each of Vermont's northernmost counties, the median price of homes sold during the first half of 2017 was more than 10% higher than a decade earlier, according to our recent analysis of VT Tax Department data on non-vacation homes. 

Home price data through June 2017 for every town and county in the state was recently added to the Vermont Housing Data website's community profiles. 

Chittenden County led the state with a 20% increase during the decade, bringing the median price there among all non-vacation homes to $287,000. In contrast, Windham and Bennington counties experienced price declines during the decade of 12% and 10%, respectively.

Despite continued signs of a strengthening national economy, HUD's reported this month that severe housing problems are on the rise. In 2015, 8.30 million households had worst case needs, up from 7.72 million in 2013. These households are defined as very low-income renters who do not receive government housing assistance and who paid more than one-half of their income for rent, lived in severely inadequate conditions, or both. High rents in proportion to renter incomes remain dominant among households with worst case needs, leaving these renters with substantial, unmet need for affordable housing. 

Based on feedback from property managers and apartment seekers, VHFA launched this week a redesigned, user-friendly Vermont Directory of Affordable Rental Housing at www.housingdata.org. We improved search tools and expanded the site to include more information people looking for an apartment need, such as rent and income limits, property photos, proximity to public transportation, accessibility features and pet policies.  

Development of the new website was supported in part by TD Charitable Foundation, AARP Vermont and the Champlain Valley Office of Economic Opportunity’s HUD Inclusive and Vibrant Communities Vermont Grant.

With the passing of the State budget and enactment of a bond that could produce $35 million, Vermont is making its largest single commitment ever of state dollars for affordable housing. VHFA will issue the revenue bond and the Vermont Housing and Conservation Board (VHCB) will administer the funds statewide to expand Vermont’s stock of permanently affordable housing. 

The Governor will sign the budget bill containing the bond on Wednesday, June 28^th at 11:00 a.m. in the Ceremonial Office at the Vermont State House in Montpelier.