VHFA recently completed an assessment of the demographics, housing stock, and affordability challenges of residents in Burlington's downtown and waterfront neighborhoods.   

This area experienced a much higher rate of population growth during the past decade than the city as a whole.  It's primarily renter population has lower incomes on average, with a third spending more than half of their incomes for housing. 

VHFA's Executive Director,  Sarah Carpenter,  announced that Robert Purcell of Georgia, VT has joined Vermont Housing Finance Agency (VHFA) as Financial Analyst.

Purcell brings vast accounting and analytical experience ranging from accounting positions at Wells Fargo to account management in the captive insurance industry. He also brings strong systems and process improvement skills.

Purcell holds a Masters in Public Administration earned at The University of Vermont and a B.A. in Business earned at The University of Colorado.

Tom Connors, VHFA’s Chief Financial Officer, commented, “we look forward to having Rob apply his skills to some of the Agency’s more complex applications like rebate arbitrage and the financial forecast.”

The American Lung Association announced a new online resource on the issue of smokefree multi-unit housing, Smokefree Policies in Multi-Unit Housing: Steps for Success.    These tools are targeted to public health advocates fairly new to the topic, property managers, residents and others will find the .  

In states like Vermont where so many homes are heated with oil, potential cuts to the federal program that provides assistance to low-income residents could not come at a worse time.   Half of all Vermont homes area heated with oil--far more than the seven percent national average. 

As the cost of oil rises, Vermonters and other New Englanders have found this program, the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program  (LIHEAP), critical to covering winter heating bills.