This commentary appeared in several news outlets as part of the Vermont Proposition Initiative with the Vermont Council on Rural Development.

As a white kid from suburbia growing up in the ‘80s, I thought everyone was in the middle.

I assumed, probably rightfully, that my neighborhood, my church, my classmates, and my extended family all fell in the same middle place as my own family. As a child I knew I couldn’t get everything I wanted, but I didn’t worry that there wouldn’t be enough.

Mom clipped coupons, knit our winter wear, and we all worried each time dad’s company was bought out by another big firm.

Fair Housing Month continues, with many events still to come through the Fair Housing Project of the Champlain Valley Office of Economic Opportunity (CVOEO). VHFA has compiled a reading list of resources to learn more about how housing discrimination continues to impact Vermonters and our nation as a whole. 

In case you missed it

The Biden administration’s American Jobs Plan includes a program that would bring $8 million in housing tax credits each year for affordable homeownership in Vermont. Unlike one-time stimulus programs also in the works, the Neighborhood Homes Investment Act (NHIA) would be an ongoing new federal tax credit generating new equity investment dollars for the development and renovation of starter homes in distressed and rural neighborhoods.

April is Fair Housing Month, an opportunity to celebrate the anniversary of the passage of the 1968 Federal Fair Housing Act, while increasing our efforts to end housing discrimination and raise awareness of housing rights.

The Fair Housing Project of the Champlain Valley Office of Economic Opportunity (CVOEO) and statewide partners are hosting a number of events throughout the month. These include: