Today, Vermont Public Radio (VPR) will devote its "Vermont Edition" program to the topic of downtown planning.

Host Jane Lindholm will examine a new approach to creating livable, mixed-use downtowns for residents and businesses: "form-based code."

Her guests will be Noelle MacKay of Smart Growth Vermont in Burlington, and Paul Dreher, zoning administrator in Newport, which is in the process of approving form-based code for its downtown.

You can hear the show at noon and 7 p.m. today on the stations of VPR.

Brian Pine, Assistant Director for Housing at Burlington's Community & Economic Development Office (CEDO), will be on cable Channel 17 this afternoon talking about the forthcoming report, “An Analysis of Impediments to Fair Housing Choice.”

He'll join Kevin Stapleton of Champlain Valley Office of Economic Opportunity's (CVOEO) Fair Housing Project.

"The CEDO Show" airs at 5:25 p.m. today.

VHFA produced the report under contract by CEDO.

Channel 17 serves the communities of Burlington, South Burlington, Essex, Essex Junction, Winooski, Williston, St. George, and parts of Colchester.

Santina "Sunny" Leporati has started at the Vermont Affordable Housing Coalition in Burlington as an AmeriCorps VISTA member.

Sunny recently graduated from the University of Vermont (UVM) with a Masters in Public Administration. She also holds a Bachelors in Public Communication from UVM.

"I have always thought of safe, affordable housing as a basic human right, a right necessary for positive growth and development for any given community," she writes. "I am excited to be working on preserving and expanding that right."

Sunny will share duties with Marissa Fischer until Marissa's term of duty expires in November.

The Vermont State Housing Authority (VSHA) will close its waiting list for Section 8 housing vouchers by the end of next month. The move, only the second time VSHA has closed its list, comes in the wake of many local housing authorities closing their lists due to overwhelming demand, low turnover and a lack of funding.

VSHA's list exceeds 3,000 and could number 4,000 by the time it closes.

It's not uncommon for applicants to wait years before receiving a voucher.

“We never used to close our list. This is the second time we closed it, but the demand is just so high and people call and ask, ‘where am I on the list’ and you don’t have any good news to give them,” VSHA Executive Director Richard Williams told the Rutland Herald.