Executive Director Sarah Carpenter announced that Vermont Housing Finance Agency (VHFA) has hired Mia Watson of Essex Junction for the position of Research and Communications Coordinator.  Watson comes to VHFA from University of Vermont where she worked in the Administrative Business Center while completing a Masters of Public Administration.

“We are excited to have Mia back at VHFA after her graduate internship in our Research Department last year,” Carpenter remarked.

Watson fills a position vacated by Leslie Black-Plumeau. Black-Plumeau has moved into the role of VHFA’s Policy and Planning Manager.  

The Vermont Affordable Housing Coalition (VAHC), a state leader in housing policy, research and advocacy, issued the following statement last week on the tax bill recently passed by the U.S. House of Representatives and under consideration in the Senate:

At a time when Vermont already has a shortage of 10,866 affordable homes for extremely low income renters and the 5th highest affordability gap for renters in the country, the pending tax proposals would eliminate tax credits and financing tools that have helped create thousands of affordable apartments  in our state and made homeownership more affordable for thousands of Vermonters.

The U.S. Census Bureau is offering Local Update of Census Addresses (LUCA) 2020 Workshops for Vermont cities and towns, in partnership with the Vermont State Data Center and the Vermont Center for Geographic Information. For your convenience, workshops will be hosted at two sites. A webinar is also being offered.  

When the Senate and House released their initial tax reform proposals last week in Washington, Vermont's Congressional delegation went to work to protect valuable resources that are part of the tax code, such as private activity bonds and housing tax credits.  Tax programs are responsible for most affordable housing developed in Vermont in the past 30 years.