BURLINGTON VT—Renting an apartment in Vermont continues to grow more difficult for the average Vermonter, according to a report released today. The 2011 update of “Between a Rock and a Hard Place: Housing and Wages in Vermont” shows a modest 2- bedroom apartment in Vermont costs an average of $990 a month, a 7 percent increase over the year before and a 58 percent increase since 2000. A renter would need to earn an hourly wage of at least $19.03 — or $39,595, annually — to afford this.
BURLINGTON—Vermont Housing Finance Agency (VHFA) has passed a major milestone: The Agency has issued more than $3 billion in bonds to finance homeownership and rental opportunities for low- and moderate-income Vermonters. Over its nearly-37-year history, VHFA has put that money to use helping approximately 27,000 Vermont households to buy a home and financing the development of approximately 8,400 affordable rental units.
BURLINGTON—Executive Director Sarah Carpenter announced Robin Howe of Colchester has joined Vermont Housing Finance Agency (VHFA) as Multifamily Operations Specialist. Howe ensures data integrity of the multifamily core software applications and provides administrative support to the VHFA Multifamily Management and Development departments. She also maintains the Directory of Affordable Rental Housing (www.housingdata.org/doarh) and required documentation related to VHFA’s multifamily portfolio.
BURLINGTON—Executive Director Sarah Carpenter announced Brenda Howley of South Burlington has joined Vermont Housing Finance Agency (VHFA) as Legal Coordinator. Howley assists VHFA’s General Counsel in performing legal functions for the Agency, including oversight of corporate records management, program and procedure review and closings of multifamily mortgage loans for construction, acquisition and rehabilitation, preservation, and ownership transfer involving multiple lenders, Low Income Housing Tax Credits, bond financings and other sources of funding.
BURLINGTON—Executive Director Sarah Carpenter announced Jennifer Hollar has joined the Vermont Housing Finance Agency (VHFA) Board of Commissioners. Hollar, the state’s new Deputy Commissioner of the Vermont Department of Economic, Housing and Community Development (DEHCD), has worked at the Vermont Department of Housing and Community Affairs, Vermont Housing and Conservation Board, and a Washington, D.C., municipal development organization.
BURLINGTON—Vermont Housing Finance Agency (VHFA) is looking for VHFA home mortgage loan customers, as well as renters of VHFA-financed apartments, to join its collection of success stories. “Now, more than ever, it’s important organizations like VHFA be able to demonstrate the good results of our work,” according to Executive Director Sarah Carpenter. “With government bailouts and growing national debt on everyone’s minds, it’s important we point out that VHFA and many of the nation’s other housing finance agencies are self-sustaining.
BURLINGTON—Vermont Housing Finance Agency (VHFA) donated 86 pairs of mittens and gloves stuffed with candy to Burlington’s King Street Center. For the first time in its long holiday tradition of donating to the center, VHFA tied its annual mitten drive to a campaign to build the Agency’s base of Facebook “fans”: VHFA donated a pair of mittens for every new fan it received between Nov. 30 and Dec. 15. “We added 86 Facebook fans over that period,” according to Executive Director Sarah Carpenter.
BURLINGTON—Vermont Housing Finance Agency (VHFA) will donate a pair of mittens stuffed with candy to Burlington’s King Street Center for every new fan that joins the Agency’s Facebook page through Wednesday, Dec. 15. “Our ‘mitten stuffing’ drive has been a holiday tradition at VHFA for many years,” according to Executive Director Sarah Carpenter.
BURLINGTON—A record number 480 people attended yesterday’s Vermont Statewide Housing Conference held at the Hilton in Burlington. The previous record for the biennial event was nearly 450 in 2006. “This year’s huge attendance is partly due to an increasing awareness of the importance of housing, a result of the mortgage crisis that brought the topic to the top of the news over the last year,” says VHFA Policy & Planning Manager Maura Collins, chief organizer of the conference.
BURLINGTON—The state’s non-profit network of NeighborWorks® HomeOwnership Centers of Vermont (HOCs) received the 2010 Housing Hero award. Vermont Housing Finance Agency (VHFA) Executive Director Sarah Carpenter presented the award to six HOC representatives at yesterday’s 2010 Vermont Statewide Housing Conference held at the Hilton in Burlington. The award recognizes individuals or organizations whose leadership, vision and actions have brought about positive and lasting change in the way their community or the state regards housing.