Last month NHC member Vermont Housing & Conservation Board (VHCB) awarded over $3 million in grants and loans for land conservation and affordable housing projects across the state. The funds will be used primarily to preserve, rehabilitate and create over 150 affordable homes and conserve almost 1,200 acres of farmland across the state.
The funds were dispersed to ten communities across Vermont and have been allocated to the Burlington Housing Authority, Champlain Housing Trust, Housing Vermont, RuralEdge, Shires Housing, Windham & Windsor Housing and the Cathedral Square Corporation. The awardees will use the funds for a range of projects including construction of a community center, development of mixed-income apartments, rehabilitation of 55 apartments in 11 different buildings, conservation of dairy and beef farmland and much more.
“The Board is pleased to support these community-driven projects in all corners of the state,” VHCB Executive Director Gus Seelig said in a press release. “Housing developments receiving commitments of VHCB funding are located in Lyndonville, Brattleboro, Bennington, Burlington and Hinesburg, while land will be conserved in the towns of Ferrisburgh, Hinesburg, Hartland, Bridgewater and Reading.”
The funding pledged to develop and maintain affordable housing throughout Vermont will be of great assistance to the 21 percent of low- and moderate-income Vermont households that spend at least half their income on housing costs. Our Housing Landscape 2014 report shows that 16 percent of households in the state are severely cost-burdened, equal to the 16 percent national average. VHCB’s efforts to ensure access to more affordable housing options are a great step in countering the housing affordability challenges in the state.
Since 1987, VHCB has awarded nearly $260 million to nonprofit housing and conservation organizations to develop nearly 1,500 projects across the state.