There were smiles a plenty in Putney Thursday as the community celebrated the renovation of the historic Plantz house at 27 Old Depot Road. The apartments will be managed by Windham and Windsor Housing Trust who oversaw the renovation process.

A new campaign called Thriving Communities: Building a Vibrant, Inclusive Vermont has just been launched. The Fair Housing Project of the Champlain Valley Office of Economic Opportunity serves as a central organizer of the campaign.

The latest Vermont Department of Health survey indicated that nearly 60% of Vermonters would be more likely to choose living in a smoke-free building over a similar building in which smoking was permitted.

Although Census surveys show a clear decline in the national homeownership rate, they don’t show a similar decline for Vermont.   At least not yet.  Second quarter 2015 estimates show Vermont’s rate at 72 percent, nearly eight and a half percentage points higher t