VHFA Policy and Planning Manager Maura Collins participated in an affordable housing panel discussion Tuesday night at Champlain College in Burlington.

She joined speakers from Champlain Housing Trust and the Committee on Temporary Shelter's Housing Resource Center to address students about to participate in the college's annual "Tent City."

Maura spoke about the current housing market, the housing needs of lower-income Vermonters, and the realities of homelessness.

BusinessWeek has named St. Albans Vermont's "most affordable" suburb.

"Housing prices across the nation are being flattened by the worst economic crisis in decades," Prashat Gopal writes, "but it's still not necessarily easy to find affordable suburbs.

"We've selected one affordable suburb near the biggest city in each state where residents can find the best quality of life for their money in 2009."

The Federal Reserve Board has published "Innovative Ideas for Revitalizing the LIHTC Market," a collection of articles exploring ways to allow the Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) program help more low-income renters.

LIHTCs have been responsible for much of the affordable housing development in Vermont since the 1980s. But the recent economic downturn has significantly reduced investor participation in the program.

Read the report online (PDF).

The Washington Post reported yesterday that a new report published by the Urban Institute shows homeowners having difficulty making their mortgage payments are 60 percent more likely to avoid foreclosure if they receive homeownership counseling than those who do not.

Those receiving counseling are also 60 percent more likely to have their mortgage payments lowered "significantly."

The report looks at the effects of $300 million distributed to 1,700 non-profit housing counseling organizations since 2007 as part of the federal National Foreclosure Mitigation Counseling program.