Partner organizations

In light of research documenting the lower default risks of mortgages for energy-efficient homes, the Vermont Green Home Alliance invites lenders and appraisers to consider two exciting courses scheduled for October 13-14, 2016 in Concord, New Hampshire:  

Unique features of rural housing require flexible national policies and financing programs, explains Executive Director Sarah Carpenter in her recent article for Rural Voices, a journal of the Housing Assistance Council.

Carpenter provides numerous examples of how the small-scale nature and sparce dispersion of the population in Vermont creates special challenges for financing owner and rental housing given recent trends toward more standardization of national mortgage finance practices. 

On Wednesday, September 14, 2016,  the Winooski Housing Authority will re-open its Housing Choice Voucher Program (Section 8) waiting list.

Applications are available at the Housing Authority's website or at their offices located at 83 Barlow Street, Winooski, Vermont. 

At the invitation of Senator Patrick Leahy, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro visited Burlington yesterday to meet with the state’s housing leaders and attend a ribbon-cutting at the new Bright Street affordable housing project.

Register today!

Every other year Vermont holds a Vermont Statewide Housing Conference immediately after the election. This year, the conference will again be held at the Hilton Burlington but with many exciting changes and offering twice as much as in prior years, including:

A steering committee of housing and service providers, state agencies and funding organizations is working to reduce homelessness and stabilize vulnerable populations.  The committee’s current goal is to develop a system for facilitating service-connected affordable housing options, building local capacity, determining costs and identifying available and needed resources.
 

Interviews with residents of subsidized rental housing in Vermont will be the core of a new story telling project launched by the Vermont Affordable Housing Coalition.

The first interview shared through the project is with Angela Devoid, a single mother living at Moose River Apartments in St. Johnbury.  Listen to her story.

Angela's home and the 27 others at her apartment complex were made affordable in 2003 through Low Income Housing Tax Credits allocated by VHFA and the USDA’s Rural Development 515 program.

Ever wonder why it's not easier to build affordable apartments?  A new interactive tool developed by the Urban Institute illustrates the mathematical necessity of tax credits, loans, tenant income/rent and grants in paying for the costs of affordable housing.  Check it out to see if you can make the math work!

With a constantly evolving funding toolbox, VHFA's skilled development and multifamily management staff work with Vermont's affordable rental housing developers and managers day in and day out to overcome these challenges and maximize the number of affordable apartments available for low-income Vermonters.

Thanks to VHFA housing credits and other funding sources, the historic Darling Inn, a perpetually affordable apartment building in Lyndonville, reopened its doors this weekend with much celebration.  Executive Director, Sarah Carpenter, joined Senator Patrick Leahy and other partners at Saturday’s ribbon cutting.

By purchasing $125,000 in Vermont Housing Tax Credits last Friday, Union Bank supplied the equity needed to help approximately 125 households buy their first homes in Vermont this coming year. These households will receive up to $5,000 to help cover their down payment and closing costs through a statewide program when they qualify for a Vermont Housing Finance Agency mortgage.