VHFA's Executive Director, Sarah Carpenter, received the Tim McKenzie Award at Champlain Housing Trust’s annual meeting and dinner on Saturday. The award recognized Carpenter’s outstanding contributions to permanently affordable housing during the past thirty years. Carpenter is a long-time Burlington resident.
“I am honored to work with partner organizations like Champlain Housing Trust to extend affordable housing options to Vermonters not served by conventional markets,” said Carpenter, who has been VHFA’s executive director since 1998.
Champlain Housing Trust’s Chief Executive Officer, Brenda Torpy, presented the award. Torpy explained that Sarah was one of the housing trust’s original Board members thirty years ago. “Her driving vision about the role perpetually affordable housing plays in our economy has had wide reaching impacts,” Torpy commented. Champlain Housing Trust is a community land trust that supports communities in northwest Vermont through the development and stewardship of permanently affordable homes and community assets.
According to Tom Pelletier, Chairperson of VHFA’s Board of Directors, “Sarah’s keen understanding of housing markets and devotion to making housing more affordable for low and moderate-income Vermonters has made her a highly effective leader.”
Before joining VHFA, Carpenter was the Executive Director of Burlington’s Cathedral Square Corporation—an organization nationally recognized for combining affordable housing and community services. Born in Burlington, Carpenter is a graduate of the University of Vermont and Harvard University.
Photo: Jon Shenton, Champlain Housing Trust.