VHFA initiatives
Homeless planning activities
Homelessness is growing in our state, especially among working families. It's estimated 3,463 Vermonters were homeless at some point during 2007 and 888 of these people were children.
In response, VHFA has become a leader in assisting the state in homeless policies and program planning.
VHFA became active in several homeless planning efforts in August 2003. This has lead to changes in how VHFA allocates tax credits to help providers possibly access new housing units created through that program.
Recognizing VHFA has an involvement with all of the state housing resources and housing managers, Executive Director Sarah Carpenter was named to the Interagency Council and helped draft the 10-year plan to end homelessness.
Housing data resource
Vermont Housing Data Web site
In addition to VHFA's loan, tax credit allocation, and monitoring responsibilities, VHFA serves as an important resource for the collection, maintenance and analysis of housing data.
VHFA, in partnership with UVM's Center for Rural Studies, launched and maintains the Vermont Housing Data website, a searchable database of every town, village, county and the state for thousands of pieces of housing data.
The site is also home to the statewide Directory of Affordable Rental Housing (DoARH), which is also searchable by any area, as well as by bedroom size, tenant population, unit restrictions, vacancies and funding source.
Issue papers
In 2008, VHFA released two additional papers in its issue paper series:
- "The Costs and Benefits of Assisting Vermont's Chronically Homeless" (844 KB; PDF) describes the cost savings of providing permanent supportive housing to individuals who were chronically homeless as opposed to more costly emergency services, such as emergency rooms, prisons, and homeless shelters.
- "Family Homelessness in Vermont" (388 KB; PDF) details the growing problem of family homelessness in Vermont and its devastating impacts.
A complete PDF archive of VHFA's issue papers is available online.
Vermont Housing Awareness Campaign
VHFA provides staff coordination for the Vermont Housing Awareness Campaign, a coalition of public and private interests and organizations working to address Vermont's housing shortage by promoting development of housing for all Vermonters.
The Campaign has used a combination of advertising, media outreach and public education efforts to build support, particularly among community leaders — business owners, faith community leaders, elected officials, and community activists in particular — for housing development.
Housing/wages report
The Campaign has worked with the Housing Council each year to issue "Between A Rock and A Hard Place," a report that tracks the gap between wages and housing costs in Vermont.
For information on the Campaign go to www.housingawareness.org.
