Housing data

Vermont Housing Finance Agency (VHFA)’s HousingData.org website has recently been updated to display the latest housing data available. The data updates include the newly released 2017 American Community Survey (ACS) 5-year estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau, as well as 2018 home sales data from the Vermont Department of Taxes.

Nearly 90% of extremely low-income Vermont renters spend an unaffordable amount of their income on housing costs, according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC)’s recently released annual report The Gap: A Shortage of Affordable Homes. The report highlights a critical shortage in the availability of affordable housing across the country.

More than one in three Vermont households live in homes that consume unsustainably high portions of their income, according to estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau.

America’s housing stock was primarily built for nuclear families, yet fewer and fewer households fit into that category, according to Making Room: Housing for a Changing America, a new report from AARP. The report argues that communities need to create housing that is more affordable and accessible for single-person, senior, and multi-generational households.    

Vermont home prices reached new highs in 2018, continuing a four year trend of growth. However, household incomes have not kept pace, making it increasingly difficult for low and middle-income Vermonters to become homeowners.

Last week, VHFA Executive Director Maura Collins spoke on a housing panel at the Vermont Economic Conference in Burlington. She was joined by Jonathan Slason of Resource Systems Group, Inc. and moderator Leslee MacKenzie of Coldwell Banker Hickok & Boardman Realty.

The CVOEO Fair Housing Project, through its Thriving Communities initiative, is creating an online Housing Committee Toolkit, which will include success stories, best practices, and resources for existing local groups and communities who want to learn more about housing committees. The toolkit is intended to stimulate community conversations, local leadership, and policy change to increase inclusive, fair, and affordable housing.

Vermont’s economy is growing but not in every county, and its gains have disproportionately benefited higher income Vermonters, according to the 2018 update of “State of Working Vermont” from Public Assets Institute. Poverty is distinctly more prevalent among younger Vermonters and Vermonters of color, the report notes.

The northwestern part of the state accounted for all job growth in Vermont in the last decade, according to the Public Assets Institute report.  While employment grew in Chittenden, Franklin and Washington counties, the remaining counties lost 15,000 workers. 

New estimates from the ACTION Campaign demonstrate the significant impact that the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit has had in Vermont, including creating and preserving over 7,000 affordable homes since 1986 and supporting nearly 8,000 jobs per year.

Vermont Housing Finance Agency (VHFA) announced today the launch of a robust, free resource connecting Vermonters to information about housing vacancies and community needs. Low and moderate income Vermonters who lack adequate, stable housing they can afford suffer elevated health and safety risks. This recently reinvented resource, known as the Vermont Housing Data website, represents years of collaboration among stakeholders seeking to increase the number of stably housed Vermonters through state of the art information sharing tools.