A recent study from Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies uses experience gained during Vermont initiatives to suggest effective strategies for mobile home replacement. VHFA’s allocation of tax credits for helping Vermonters replace dilapidated mobile homes is one the report’s examples of resourcefulness.
Publications
Down payment assistance is a sound investment for Vermont
Economic pressures and demographic shifts are preventing many young Vermonters and their peers nationwide from becoming home owners. To help Vermont continue to reap the well-documented benefits that homeownership brings to individual households, their neighborhoods and the greater community, policy makers can create tools that make home buying more economically feasible.
Vermont's HUD Consolidated Plan under revision
The Vermont Department of Housing and Community Development posted a revised “second draft” of its proposed 2015-2019 HUD Consolidated Plan and 2015 Action Plan on March 26, 2015 with tracked changes from the earlier draft version published on March 12. The document and information about the plan are available on DHCD’s website.
Vermont plumbing rules under revision
The Vermont Department of Public Safety is currently accepting public comment on an annotated version of the Vermont Plumbing Rules.
A public hearing regarding the rules is scheduled for:
Exploring solutions to homelessness in Vermont
Vermont suffered a 9% increase in homelessness last year, according to a new report from Champlain Housing Trust and Housing Vermont. The report digs deeper into the challenges around this issue and offers steps to help solve it.
Vermont tops nation in energy efficiency in recent survey
Vermont topped the list of a recent WalletHub survey as the most energy efficient state in the U.S., reported the National Mortgage Professional (NMP) yesterday.
Housing and health: The importance of place
In the second of a series of papers on how affordable housing impacts other pieces of our lives, the connection between health and housing is becoming better understood. In Housing and Health: The Importance of Place, the authors delve into some of these impacts. As Megan Sandel, M.D., M.P.H., and Deborah Frank, M.D. writes, "For many of our patients, a safe, decent, affordable home is like a vaccine—it literally keeps children healthy.”
Affordable housing is key to a child's success in school
A new paper was released today that highlights the intersection of affordable housing and education, and the benefits that an affordable home provides kids in terms of their ability to learn in school. In the report, Rebecca Haslam, an elementary school teacher, is quoted saying, "Kids experiencing housing challenges feel disconnected from their communities, which is even more damaging to their ability to access the academics... they're just not ready."
Vermont's tight market for the poorest renters stands out among New England states
Vermont was placed among states with the fewest apartments available for deeply low-income renters by a recent study from the National Low-Income Housing Coalition. For every 100 renters in the state, only 11 units are affordable and available to renters making less than 15% of the area median income, the researchers estimated.