Yesterday the U.S. House Committee on Financial Services approved the Section 8 Voucher Reform Act of 2009 (H.R. 3045).

The bill would establish a stable, fair and cost-effective funding system for the Section 8 program and ensure no tenant is ever at risk of losing housing assistance because of unexpected budget shortfalls.

The bill would also restore previous assistance levels by authorizing 150,000 new vouchers.

The Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher Program provides rental housing assistance to 2 million low-income families nationwide.

Read more about H.R. 3045 at the House site.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has awarded Burlington Housing Authority approximately $392,000 to help house low-income families living with AIDS/HIV.

Elsewhere in New England, $1.3 million is going to the Frannie Peabody Center in Portland, Maine; $1.4 million to the city of Portland; and more than $716,000 to the state of New Hampshire.

Judy Smith, left, pictured with VHFA's Erin Perrin, is VHFA’s top mortgage loan originator in Franklin County for 2009.

Judy’s a loan originator for Peoples Trust Co. in St. Albans. You can reach her at 802.752.1214.

We’ll be announcing the rest of our top originators throughout the summer.

The Vermont Division for Historic Preservation wants to know your thoughts on, well, historic preservation.

The division's working to revise its 10-year plan, and is soliciting the opinions of Vermonter through an online survey.

Take the survey now.