A modest, two-bedroom apartment costs $1,099, according to the annual Out of Reach report from the National Low-Income Housing Coalition. In order to afford this level of rent and utilities — without paying more than 30% of income on housing — a household must earn an hourly “housing wage” of $21.13—far more than Vermont’s minimum wage of $9.60 or the average wage among the state’s renters ($11.79).
Housing in the news
The graying of America's homeless
The number of homeless living in the U.S. who are over the age of 50 has jumped recently, and now comprises 31 percent of the nation's total homeless population, according to the New York Times. This is creating "daunting challenges for social service agencies and governments already struggling with this crisis of poverty."
Need an affordable apartment?
Need an affordable apartment or know someone who does? There are vacancies in 13 different apartment complexes across the state, according to the Vermont Directory of Affordable Rental Housing.
Metamorphosis begins for once-decaying mobile home park near Vergennes
After sitting vacant for six years, the Gevries mobile home park in Addison County has started redevelopment. VHFA provided housing tax credits that will cover an estimated 60 percent of the project’s costs and ensure that the new 14-home community will be affordable for low-income renters of all ages. By installing VERMOD high-performance duplex homes, developers Cathedral Square Corporation and Addison County Community Trust anticipate that the neighborhood will achieve net-zero annual energy costs, another critical component of its long-term affordability.
Watch Local22’s story last week about the project.
Need an affordable apartment?
Need an affordable apartment or know someone who does? There are vacancies in 20 different apartment complexes across the state, according to the Vermont Directory of Affordable Rental Housing.
Need an affordable apartment?
Need an affordable apartment or know someone who does? There are vacancies in 11 different apartment complexes across the state, according to the Vermont Directory of Affordable Rental Housing. Find out more about particular units by visiting the vacancy profiles on line.
Cathedral Square awarded $100,000 affordable housing grant
Cathedral Square recently won the Annual TD Charitable Foundation Housing for Everyone Affordable Housing Grant Competition and was awarded $100,000 to help fund the construction of Elm Place. The theme for this year's "Housing for Everyone" was Affordable Housing for Seniors. This theme focused on the development of safe, affordable and accessible housing for adults 55 and over.
VerMod company creates employment opportunties (and high-efficiency homes)
Steve Davis, owner of the Wilder-based VerMod company is becoming recognized not just for his company's high quality modular homes but for the employment opportunities he has created for residents of the Hartford Dismas House. Dismas provides group-setting affordable housing to people recently released from prison. Read more in Sunday's Valley News.
VHFA's Sarah Carpenter discusses down payment assistance on CCTV
Earlier this week, Executive Director Sarah Carpenter appeared on CCTV to discuss Vermont's new down payment assistance program for first-time home buyers. Interviewed by host Erhard Mahnke of the Vermont Affordable Housing Coalition, Carpenter described how the program works, its creation by the Vermont Legislature and the affordability hurdles that have plagued would-be first-time buyers in recent years.
Word of new down payment assistance program spreads to potential home buyers statewide
Last week's press conference at VHFA launched a new statewide down payment assistance program enacted by the Vermont Legislature in May 2015. Since the conference, the program has been in the news across the state, helping to reach Vermonters who might be able to use the program to buy their first home.
Recent local media coverage of the program includes: