Executive Director Sarah Carpenter announced Jennifer Martin, St. Albans, VT, has joined VHFA as an Underwriter. 

The toolbox for enabling seniors who want to grow older in their current homes is becoming increasingly effective, according to experts consulted in a recent How Housing Matters article.

A quarter of Vermont households are headed by someone who is 65 or older. The vast majority of these seniors will not move as their physical mobility becomes more limited with age.  However, only one in three older Americans lives in a homes with safety features, such as grab bars. Public financial support can put home modifications in reach of lower income seniors.  

A study conducted by the Center for Outcomes Research and Education (CORE) found affordable housing reduced overall health care expenditures by 12% for Medicaid recipients. By comparing individuals' Medicaid claims in the year prior to moving into affordable housing to their Medicaid claims in the year after moving in, researchers found an average total savings of $576 a year. Seniors and people with disabilities as well as permanent supportive housing reaped the greatest benefit by saving an average of $84 per month ($1,008 per year).

Five years after opening its doors to homeless veterans, Canal Street Veterans Housing is celebrating its success in moving residents to permanent housing and employment. Eighty-seven percent of all residents moved into permanent housing after leaving Canal Street and all of those who were able to work were employed.

Canal Street is a two-year transitional housing program for formerly homeless veterans.  It is the only VA housing provider in Vermont that allows families of veterans to join them in their program.  In 2015, the residents of Canal Street's 28 units included 8 children and two spouses.