VHFA's Socially Responsible Committee has devised a way to help stock the local food shelf:

Each day next week, any staff member who brings in a non-perishable food item for the Chittenden Emergency Food Shelf will earn the right to dress according to the Agency's "casual" dress policy, something usually reserved for Fridays.

Current economic conditions have put a lot of pressure on local social service organizations, especially food shelves. If you'd like to learn what you can do to help benefit those in need, visit the food shelf Web site to see the types of items that are in need, or to make an online cash contribution.

This is the second of several quick bios we'll blog of speakers scheduled to appear at the Vermont Statewide Housing Conference, Nov. 18 in South Burlington.

Read about other speakers scheduled to present at the event and register to attend at the conference Web site.

Linda Ryan is an important figure in the Vermont Coalition to End Homelessness. She has spearheaded the group's legislative advocacy for the past several years.

VHFA will hold a training session on Sept. 15 for homeless organization workers who'd like to learn how to use the Vermont Directory of Affordable Rental Housing (DoARH).

The directory is a searchable database of all subsidized housing units in Vermont. It contains data, as well as contact and vacancy information, on more than 12,000 units across the state.

Best of all, this powerful tool can be accessed free-of-charge at www.housingdata.org/doarh.

If the new National Affordable Housing Trust Fund, part of the housing relief initiative recently signed into law by President Bush, sounds familiar, it might be because the model for it was developed in Burlington more than 20 years ago.

The Burlington Community Land Trust, now Champlain Housing Trust, was created under Bernie Sanders — then Mayor of Burlington, now U.S. Senator — as a way to create perpetually affordable housing.