The U.S. Department of Commerce reported sales of new homes were up 11 percent in June — the largest jump in more than eight years and well above the rise of 2.3 percent expected by analysts.

Resales of existing homes were up 3.6 percent in June, the third straight monthly increase.

While last Friday's boost in the federal minimum wage to $7.25 an hour will help working Americans on the lower end of the pay scale, it still doesn't allow those people to afford decent housing.

According to the National Low-Income Housing Coalition's annual "Out of Reach" report, a household must earn $17.84 an hour to afford the national average two-bedroom "fair market rent" (FMR) of $928 a month.

In an opinion piece that appeared recently in the Rutland Herald, Vermont Land Trust Executive Director Gil Livingston and Rutland County Community Land Trust Executive Director Elisabeth Kulas thanked legislators for funding the Vermont Housing & Conservation Board.

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.