Today is International Women's Day, an opportunity to celebrate the many achievements of women while also calling for more progress towards gender equality.
Vermont Housing Finance Agency (VHFA) has a strong tradition of female leadership. Currently, 57% of its staff are women, and the Agency has been led by a female Executive Director for the past 23 years. Many women are moving into affordable housing leadership roles across the country, including President Biden's nominee for Secretary of the U.S Department of Housing & Urban Development, Marcia Fudge who is a Black woman.
Women have made substantial gains in building housing equity over the past several decades. As recently as 1973, mortgage lenders could legally exclude a woman's income when calculating household income, or refused to make loans to single women at all. Today, 17% of all home purchases are made by single women, compared to just 9% for single men, according the National Association of Realtors.
At the same time, women still face considerable barriers to accessing housing. In Vermont, the median woman earns $34,597, 18% less than the median man. That is not enough to afford a two-bedroom apartment at fair market rent in most parts of the state, let alone purchase a home. BIPOC women are further disadvantaged by the many housing challenges impacting non-White Vermonters. Furthermore, the COVID-19 pandemic has pushed many women out of the labor market, which could deepen the wage divide for decades to come.