Planning

Housing affordability challenges in high-cost cities often overshadow the enormous housing challenges in rural America. Though the situation is more extreme in metro areas, rural areas and small towns also face significant shortages of affordable and available rental housing, as most very low-income Vermonters well know.

The Vermont Agency of Commerce and Community Development recently published its Draft 2017 Annual Action Plan and Draft Vermont National Housing Trust Fund Allocation Plan for comment.  These and other consolidated planning materials are available on

The Vermont Agency of Natural Resources is seeking input from the business community about their experiences with permitting and environmental regulation in Vermont.  Please share your insights at one of the "listening tour" meetings the Agency is holding over the next two weeks at locations around the state. 

HUD Secretary Julian Castro described his hopes for the transition to new leadership during an interview with NPR yesterday. 

In Vermont, the federal Low-Income Housing Tax Credits allocated by VHFA have financed 6,513 apartments, providing affordable homes to 15,175 low-income Vermont households and supporting 7,360 jobs.

In response to declining housing affordability in many parts of the country, the White House released a report this week on best practices for reducing local housing development barriers. The accumulation of these barriers has reduced the ability of many housing markets to respond to growing demand, the report explains.

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:  

The median income among Vermont households increased in 2015 to $56,990, according to US Census Bureau estimates released this week. The last time this indicator increased for Vermont was 2011.

Improvements in household income in 2015 were experienced nationwide and reported earlier this week by the Census Bureau.

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.
 

More than 30 percent of the households in Vermont’s rural counties are now cost burdened by their housing expenses—a stark increase since 2000, according to a recent Harvard analysis of non-metro areas nationwide.  This interactive map shows the increase in cost burden rates sweeping U.S. rural areas.