What more do we need to know to improve housing and community development policy and practice? The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Office of Policy Development and Research (PD&R) is formulating its research agenda for the next 5–10 years and would like your input.
Think critically and provide input about the above question as it relates to four targeted topic areas:
This week marks the 25th anniversary of the Tax Reform Act of 1986, the landmark legislation signed on October 22, 1986 by President Reagan that created the Low Income Housing Tax Credit (Housing Credit). Congress created the Housing Credit to encourage the construction and rehabilitation of affordable apartments for low-income working families by offering owners of such housing a credit against tax liability for 10 years.
Only one other state in the country (Maine) has more of its housing stock comprised of vacant, seasonal units. A recent comprehesive report from the Census Bureau on housing characteristics shows that these homes make up 15.6% of Vermont's housing stock--an increase from 14.6% in 2000. Only 3.5% of all homes in the U.S. are vacant, seasonal units.
The recession's longstanding toll on the incomes of Vermont households is shown clearly in estimates released by the Census Bureau yesterday. The median income of a household in the state dropped to $49,406 in 2010 from $51,618 in 2009. The poverty rate among Vermont households rose to 12.7% up from 11.4% in 2009. Poverty among the state's children rose particularly high--to an alarming 16.7% in 2010 up from 13.3% in 2009.
The Census Bureau released new estimates today that provide information about the characteristics of residents and homes in Vermont and its counties in 2010. These estimates are based on the annual American Community Survey (ACS), which asks a sample of Vermonters questions about their home and the household members living there.
The Vermont Housing Data website is back on-line, after a short outage due to problems with our off-site host. We regret the inconvenience.
In response to the need for temporary and long-term housing after Tropical Storm Irene, we've added a new feature to the Vermont Housing Data website to help residents quickly view on-line lists of apartments for rent across the state. The new "portal", accessible directly from th
Public policy efforts in Massachusetts in the 1990s to reduce children’s exposure to lead generated “modest but statistically significant improvements in test performance in the 2000s, with particular benefits for children in low-income communities,” according to a recent report. The study was conducted by the New England Public Policy Center at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.
There's a new local survey of employers asking about housing’s availability, condition and affordability and its impact on their ability to attract and retain workers.
After one year of entering into a contract with the Agency of Human Services to cover the after-hours emergency housing assistance, more than 1,300 calls were received by Vermont 2-1-1. Of these requests for after-hours emergency housing, 329 callers were eligible for housing assistance. Alternate shelter was found for 451 of the remaining 1,015 callers who did not qualify for emergency housing. The majority of requests for emergency housing are from single individuals.