Partner organizations

Governor Phil Scott joined state legislators, Windham & Windsor Housing Trust, and VHFA Executive Director Sarah Carpenter in Brattleboro last week to celebrate the groundbreaking of Snow Block apartments. The project will create 18 affordable apartments for low-income Vermonters as part of a 23-unit mixed-income building. The affordable units will be rented permanently at well below market rates. The project was funded in large part by federal low-income housing tax credits awarded by VHFA.

Vermont Resident Service Coordinators (VRSC) is hosting a training on “Smoke-free Housing Now: Checking in on the Challenges and Successes” on November 28, 2018, from 10:00 a.m. to noon at the Royalton Academy Building, in South Royalton. This training is sponsored by Vermont Housing Finance Agency (VHFA), Vermont Housing Managers Association (VHMA), and Burlington Housing Authority (BHA).

Earlier this month, Vermont Housing Finance Agency (VHFA) joined Downstreet Housing & Community Development in celebrating the completion of renovations of the Winooski River Apartments in Montpelier. The project was funded in part by VHFA, which awarded both state and federal tax credits as well as construction financing. This renovation allows Downstreet to preserve affordable, historic apartments while significantly improving the energy-efficiency and accessibility of the buildings.

Consensus is growing quickly that improving housing options is essential to improving the health of Vermonters.  Released this week, early results of the 2019 Chittenden and Grand Isle Counties Community Health Needs Assessment show affordable housing as the top-ranked concern among social and environmental health challenges. To help connect the people and systems focused on housing and health care, the upcoming Vermont Statewide Housing Conference on November 13-14 in Burlington will provide several innovative opportunities to move forward.  

Key Bank is our newest Platinum level sponsor of the 2018 Vermont Statewide Housing Conference. The conference will be held on November 13th and 14th at the Hilton Burlington. Conference registration is open, and a full list of events is available on the conference website. 

NBT Bank is our newest Platinum level sponsor of the 2018 Vermont Statewide Housing Conference. The conference will be held on November 13th and 14th at the Hilton Burlington. Conference registration is open, and a full list of events is available on the conference website. 

Last week, affordable housing partners and city officials celebrated the groundbreaking of Casavant Overlook apartments off of East Allen Street in Winooski’s Gateway District. The project is being developed by Green Mountain Development Group and will be managed on-site by Summit Properties. Casavant Overlook will offer 39 mixed-income apartments, 27 of which will be affordable for low-income households. In addition, four of the affordable units will have access to on-site services provided by the Committee on Temporary Shelter (COTS) to support formerly homeless and at-risk households.

HUD announced last week that it will extend the multifamily risk-sharing initiative with the Federal Financing Bank for VHFA and other eligible U.S. housing finance agencies (HFAs). Created in 2015, this initiative has provided much-needed access for HFAs to the U.S. Treasury’s Federal Financing Bank.

In Vermont, this initiative has helped fund the development of 665 safe, affordable apartments for low income households in 6 communities: Colchester, Rutland, Bennington, Burlington, South Burlington and Bristol.  Financing via this initiative is pending for another 230 apartments in Vermont.  

Morgan Stanley is our newest Platinum level sponsor of the 2018 Vermont Statewide Housing Conference. The conference will be held on November 13th and 14th at the Hilton Burlington. Conference registration is now open, with special early bird pricing available for a limited time only.

A recent report from researchers at Ohio State University and Fannie Mae describes new evidence of ways to extend homeownership sustainably.  Lower income households seeking to purchase homes face many barriers including lack of wealth for down payment.  Further, “after purchasing a home, lower income homeowners are often at higher risk of default due to unaffordable mortgage terms, higher loan-to-value ratios, and fragile household balance sheets,”  the report notes.