We've had a chance to tally up the evaluation forms collected at the Nov. 18 Vermont Statewide Housing Conference, and are pleased most attendees were pleased with the event.

A total of 233 people completed evaluations at the event or after the conference through our Web site. They gave the conference an overall rating of 4.3 out of 5.

Our three highest-rated workshops were:

Call the White House at (202) 456-1414 now and urge Administration officials to include the National Housing Trust Fund (NHTF) in the final tax package being negotiated with House and Senate leaders.

This is the last chance before the next Congress to get long-awaited funding for the NHTF, which would bring $3 million and approximately 30 new project-based housing vouchers to Vermont.

75% of these new resources would be targeted for extremely low-income households: people at or below 30% of area median income.

VHFA Policy and Planning Manager Maura Collins will join Brian Pine from the Burlington Community and Economic Development Office in presenting the city's "Analysis of Impediments to Fair Housing Choice" report to the city council tonight.

The Burlington Free Press included a preview of the meeting in this morning's issue.

The meeting starts at 7:15 tonight in Contois Auditorium, 149 Church St., Burlington.

The Vermont Housing Awareness Campaign has been featured in a new report by the Partnership for Sustainable Communities (PSC).

PSC's "What Works and Why: Affordable Housing Communications Campaigns 2000–2010" devotes a page to the Vermont campaign, which ran from 2002-04.

The publication features, "the most effective advertising and communication programs for improving public opinion about affordable housing," according to a PSC press release.

The Vermont campaign, lead by VHFA, aimed to raise awareness of the need for more housing of all types in Vermont and build support for more housing development.