An annual survey of municipal officials in 29 large U.S. cities found unemployment at the top of the list of homelessness causes, according to  a recent report from the The U.S. Conference of Mayors’ Task Force on Hunger and Homelessness.  Respondents were asked to provide information on emergency food assistance and homeless services provided between September 1, 2010 and August 31, 2011.

The State of Vermont’s Department of Economic, Housing and Community Development will conduct a public hearing in preparation of developing its 2012 Action Plan for the HUD Consolidated Plan for 2010-2015, to hear views about the State’s housing and community development needs, including priority non-housing community development needs and development of proposed activities, and review past performance related to its HUD Consolidated Plan.

Next Thursday, February 2, 2012, Vermont's Joint Committee on Tax Credits will conduct a public hearing to discuss changes to the Qualified Allocation Plan (QAP) used to select the projects that will receive state and federal housing tax credits.

Housing tax credits have become the primary source of funding for the development of affordable rental housing in Vermont. As administrator of the state's  housing credit program, VHFA awarded nearly $7 million in tax credits to 21 apartment projects in 2011 which will provide much needed housing to low and moderate income renters across the state.

According to a recent study, requiring down payments of at least ten percent is less likely to prevent a mortgage from defaulting than other measures, such as requiring borrower income documentation and prohibiting hybrid adjustable-rate mortgages with “teaser payments”.   

Researchers at the University of North Carolina’s Center for Responsible Lending used national level data to examine the effect of various requirements on borrowers’ access to mortgage credit and on the number of defaults they would be likely to prevent.