VERMONT HOUSING FINANCE AGENCY HIRES RESEARCH ANALYST

BURLINGTON, VT  Vermont Housing Finance Agency (VHFA) Executive Director Sarah Carpenter announced today the hiring of Leslie Black-Plumeau as Research Analyst. Black-Plumeau provides research support for administration of VHFA programs and development of new housing initiatives. She also designs reports to facilitate the exchange of housing data and research information among VHFA staff members, management, Board of Commissioners, and other housing organizations. Black-Plumeau was Research Analyst at VHFA from 1998 to 2001. In the two years prior to returning to the Agency, she owned and operated Black-Plumeau Consulting, a public policy research and analysis firm in South Burlington. During that time, she worked on a statewide housing needs assessment for the Vermont Department of Housing and Community Affairs and other housing agencies, and conducted analyses related to the state’s welfare program. Before starting her consulting business, she worked for a year as Planning and Evaluation Chief for the Vermont Department for Prevention, Assistance, Transition and Health Access (PATH), now called the Department for Children and Families. Black-Plumeau is a graduate of Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts. She holds a master’s degree from the Nelson A. Rockefeller College of Public Affairs and Policy at the State University of New York at Albany. The Vermont Legislature established VHFA on April 11, 1974, to finance and promote affordable housing opportunities for low- and moderate-income Vermonters. Since its inception, the Agency has helped almost 25,000 households with affordable mortgages and nearly 7,000 families into affordable rental units.