Public policy efforts in Massachusetts in the 1990s to reduce children’s exposure to lead generated “modest but statistically significant improvements in test performance in the 2000s, with particular benefits for children in low-income communities,”  according to a recent report.  The study was conducted by the New England Public Policy Center at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.

Read the study.

Sunday's Rutland Herald examined a slow down in the volume of home sales in the state in 2011, interviewing VHFA's Excecutive Director Sarah Carpenter and other Vermont real estate experts.   Cautious buyers, the elimination of the home buyer tax credit, and tight credit standards and down payment requirements were the primary causes cited.

Read the Herald article online (payment required).

Fox 44's nightly newscast interviewed VHFA's Leslie Black-Plumeau, Research and Communications Coordinator, about the new website: Vermont Rental Housing Codes. As described in Housing Matters last week, the site provides guidance on the health and safety standards that existing residential rental housing in Vermont must meet.

WCAX News covered Vermont's new rental codes website today.   The Rental Housing Codes website provides guidance on the health and safety standards that existing residential rental housing must meet.

Read the WCAX story.