Towns with sufficient homes to house the employees that work there are more likely to make inroads against climate change and the housing affordability crisis. According to data published this week by the Vermont Housing Data website, the top Vermont town with over 10,000 workplaces to strike this balance is Essex. For every 100 homes in Essex, the town has 112 jobs.

Vermont Housing Finance Agency (VHFA) is seeking an organization or consortium to provide technical assistance to Manufactured Home Communities (MHC) to assist them in completing financial analyses or preparing applications to meet their infrastructure needs. Applications are due on May 25, 2022.

A recent article in the New York Times suggested that Vermont is ranked first in the nation in vacant homes. This may be surprising to many Vermonters, given the state’s extremely tight housing market. Diving into the data more closely shows that the vast majority of Vermont’s vacant homes are seasonal or vacation homes, which are considered to be vacant under the Census Bureau’s methodology, but not necessarily available to buyers or renters.  Vacation homes have been prominent in Vermont’s housing stock for decades due to the state’s ski resorts and long-time desirability among tourists.

Executive Director Maura Collins announced that Vermont Housing Finance Agency (VHFA) has selected Ewelina Kowalik (she/her) of South Burlington for the newly created role of Senior Finance and Accounting Analyst.

Kowalik is an accountant by training and has 14 years of accounting and finance experience. She comes to VHFA from the Community Development Trust, an affordable housing investor in New York City, where she was a Senior Accountant. Kowalik has a Bachelor of Arts in Accounting & Information Systems and a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Queens College of the City University of New York.