Earlier this week, Executive Director Sarah Carpenter appeared on CCTV to discuss Vermont's new down payment assistance program for first-time home buyers. Interviewed by host Erhard Mahnke of the Vermont Affordable Housing Coalition, Carpenter described how the program works, its creation by the Vermont Legislature and the affordability hurdles that have plagued would-be first-time buyers in recent years.
Despite the recovery taking place in most of Vermont's local housing markets, relatively high rents and home purchase prices continue to prevent many younger residents from buying their first home.
Last week's press conference at VHFA launched a new statewide down payment assistance program enacted by the Vermont Legislature in May 2015. Since the conference, the program has been in the news across the state, helping to reach Vermonters who might be able to use the program to buy their first home.
Recent local media coverage of the program includes:
Governor Shumlin joined Woodstock residents, local officials, and statewide housing partners yesterday to celebrate the creation of 28 new affordable rental apartments at the Safford Commons complex. Safford Commons is on the site of the former Grange Hall and church on Route 4 in Woodstock. While 24 of the new apartments are in newly-constructed buildings, four are in the buildings that already stood on the site