Wellness

VHFA will start requiring multifamily properties provide proof property owners/managers have filed annual compliance statements with the Vermont Department of Health regarding essential maintenance practices (EMP).

In an effort to reduce exposure to harmful lead, owners and managers must complete EMP in all rental housing built before 1978 and file annual compliance statements with the Vermont Department of Health.

VHFA will be confirming statements have been submitted when we're onsite performing physical inspections and file reviews of our properties.

Please be prepared to show us evidence your compliance statement has been filed with the state!

VHFA has partnered with the American Heart Association for Start! — a physical activity initiative to fight heart disease and stroke through workplace walking programs.

Now through June 25, staff members will be able to track their physical activity online. The Agency will also set goals for staff to try and meet as a team.

VHFA wrapped up its spring wellness program Friday. For the past four weeks, staffers have been logging the number of steps they climb during the course of the work day.

Collectively, participants climbed 5,510 flights — 53 percent more than our last stairs program in 2008.

Top climber awards go to Senior Development Underwriter Cindy Reid, Chief Financial Officer Tom Connors and Director of Multifamily Programs Sam Falzone who climbed 750, 660 and 610 flights, respectively.

VHFA's first wellness event of 2010 starts next week when staffers compete to see who can climb the most stairs in a 4-week period.

The Agency's headquarters are located in a three-story building at the corner of Main and Saint Paul streets in Burlington. Much to the detriment of guts and butts, the building is also equipped with a (mostly) functional elevator.

During a similar challenge in 2008, staff collectively logged 3,780 flights of stairs.

The final report of the Vermont Rental Housing Safety & Habitability Committee is available online.

VHFA Executive Director Sarah Carpenter chaired the 14-member committee over the last two years, and presented its recommendations to a legislative committee last week.

Read more about the initiative in our previous post, and download a copy of the report.

VHFA Executive Director Sarah Carpenter is testifying this morning to the Vermont House General, Housing and Military Affairs Committee on behalf of the Rental Housing Safety & Habitability Committee.

The rental committee was established by Act 176 to make recommendations to the Legislature regarding health and safety issues concerning Vermont's rental housing.

Sarah has chaired the 14-member committee for the past two years.

In its final report, the committee makes nine recommendations pertaining to:

The Office of Vermont Attorney General Bill Sorrell (pictured) recently contacted nearly 30 landlords requesting they demonstrate compliance with Vermont's lead law.

The letters, mailed to 27 landlords in Chittenden and Washington counties, are just the latest round of requests Sorrell has sent.

"We have already sent letters to landlords in 10 counties and there was an 18% increase in lead compliance filings in 2009," Sorrell says. "Hopefully, that trend will continue."

Stuart Offer, Wellness Educator with the YMCA, presented another lunchtime education session for VHFA staff.

"Facts and Fallacies of Food and Nutrition" was the topic.

Staff wellness is an ongoing initiative of the Agency's administration department.

Late last year, VHFA received an award for workplace wellness from the Vermont Governor’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports.

Browse some of our other wellness-related stories from Housing Matters.

VHFA held a free lunchtime education session for employees this afternoon.

Stuart Offer, wellness educator with the Greater Burlington YMCA, presented "Nutrition Strategies to Maximize Weight Loss."

At last year's Worksite Wellness Conference, the Agency received a grant from the Vermont Governor's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports to be used for a wellness program this winter.

We invited Stuart back after his well-received healthy cooking class during VHFA's Health Awareness Day in October.

Earlier this month, VHFA won a Bronze Award from the Vermont Governor's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports as part of the 2008 Vermont Awards for Work Site Wellness, Physical Fitness and Sports. (Read the original post.)

We just got a hold of this photo of VHFA HR/Office Manager Martha Panton accepting the honor from Gov. Jim Douglas.