VHFA supported the renovation and expansion of Bradley House in Brattleboro with the commitment of a $3.1 million construction loan and its staff was gratified to attended the project's ribbon-cutting ceremony Monday.

The development is a Level III Residential Care facility that serves seniors in need of a variety of services, and the expansion will increase the number of residents served from 28 to 35. The wonderfully elaborate building that will be renovated was built in the 1860s and an attached new wing will be added to allow this expansion. The facility is owned and run by Holton Home Inc. and is their second such property in Brattleboro.

Executive Director Sarah Carpenter announced that VHFA has hired a new Multifamily Management Officer.  Andrea Tieso comes to VHFA from Summit Property Management where she has worked since 2014 as a Compliance Specialist.  She has many years of experience in property management and has worked specifically with Housing Tax Credits and Section 8 housing.

Andrea lives in Charlotte with her husband and three children.

Housing affordability challenges in high-cost cities often overshadow the enormous housing challenges in rural America. Though the situation is more extreme in metro areas, rural areas and small towns also face significant shortages of affordable and available rental housing, as most very low-income Vermonters well know.

The White House announced today that it intends to nominate Pamela Patenaude to serve as Deputy Secretary for Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Patenaude is currently president of the J. Ronald Terwilliger Foundation for America's Families, an organization that seeks to elevate housing's place on the political agenda.

Patenaude has held a variety of housing policy positions in both the public and private sectors. She served as Director of the Bipartisan Policy Center's Housing Commission and had the opportunity to hear about Vermont’s housing issues at a national hearing in Maine in 2012. She also spoke at the Vermont Statewide Housing Conference in 2012.