VHFA Programs

MOVE

• Often VHFA's lowest interest rate
• Income limits, purchase price limits, and first-time homebuyer requirements apply  

MOVE MCC

• Mortgage Credit Certificate (MCC) issued at closing
• Annual federal income tax credit up to $2,000
• Income limits, purchase price limits, and first-time homebuyer requirements apply 

ADVANTAGE

• VHFA's highest Income and Purchase Price Limits
• Useful for households who do not qualify for MOVE or MOVE MCC
• No first-time homebuyer requirement unless using a VHFA down payment assistance program

Mortgage Credit Certificate (MCC)

• Federal tax credit up to 50% of mortgage interest paid annually, capped at $2,000 per year
• Borrowers receive certificate after closing and provide to tax preparer each year
• Available for as long as the borrower lives in the home and holds the original first mortgage

ASSIST (Down Payment Assistance)

• $10,000 loan in down payment and closing assistance
• 0% deferred loan with no monthly payments
• Repaid at sale, refinance or mortgage payoff
• Borrowers and non-borrowing spouses must have NEVER owned a home and have less than $30,000 combined liquid assets
• May be combined with First Generation Homebuyer grant
• Available exclusively with a VHFA Program (MOVE, MOVE MCC, ADVANTAGE). 

First Generation Homebuyer Assistance

• $15,000 grant for down payment and closing costs
• May be combined with VHFA ASSIST
• Borrowers and non-borrowing spouses must have NEVER owned a home before and have less than $30,000 combined liquid assets
• At least one person taking title must EITHER: have been placed in foster care at some point in their life, OR have parents or legal guardians who never owned or lost their home to foreclosure and have not owned again
• Available exclusively with a VHFA Program (MOVE, MOVE MCC, ADVANTAGE).
• Grants are available while funds last on a first-come, first-served basis.

VHFA offers funding and loan programs to developers who are committed to creating and preserving housing for low- and moderate-income Vermonters. The funding and loan programs that VHFA offers include the following:

• Predevelopment Loans
• Construction and Permanent Loans
• Housing Investments for Vermont (HIVE) loans
• Middle-Income Homeownership Development Program (MIHDP)
• Local Investment Advisory Committee (LIAC) partnership
• Rental Revolving Loan Fund (RRLF)

Acquisition, rehabilitation, construction and construction/permanent loans from VHFA are often made in conjunction with the allocation of federal housing tax credits. Most projects are funded through the issuance of tax-exempt bonds but also require public or private funding sources.

As part of its ongoing obligations under its bond issuances, VHFA monitors housing projects for:

• Long-term financial viability
• Property maintenance
• Program compliance
• Preservation of market value
• Long-term affordability

VHFA is responsible for compliance monitoring for all Federal and State Housing Credits. VHFA also actively negotiates preservation agreements with property owners. The goal of these agreements is to preserve, extend or transfer properties into long-term affordability. This is accomplished by providing new or deferred loans, restructuring current debt and allocating Housing Credits. This allows for improved cash flow, and rehabilitation of aging rental properties.

For half a century, VHFA has played a transformative role in creating and preserving affordable housing for Vermonters, helping 31,000 primarily first-time home buyers secure homes, and enabling the development of 9,600 affordable apartments statewide. 

Since its founding in 1974, VHFA has bridged the gap between public and private sectors to address housing challenges across the state. It has leveraged federal programs, adapted to changing policies, overcome funding challenges, and stayed true to its institutional values. 

In 2023, VHFA named its core values: integrity, innovation, belonging, and equity – VIIBE is a strong throughline in the agency’s history, its current programs, and future path toward meeting Vermont’s housing needs. 

The early years: 1974-1985 

VHFA was created by Act 260 in the Vermont General Assembly and signed into law by Governor Thomas P. Salmon on April 11, 1974. Shortly after the agency’s creation, a 1975 study highlighted the need for 21,000 new or rehabilitated units in Vermont, demonstrating the importance of VHFA’s role in affordable housing. Under its first director Allen Hunt, VHFA immediately got to work, issuing $13.8 million in single-family bonds in its first year. VHFA continued to grow its role in Vermont’s housing landscape, first by administering Section 8 Rental Assistance funds starting in 1976, then by issuing the first multifamily development bonds in 1977. 

Beyond getting people into new housing, VHFA has always recognized the need to keep people housed and to keep the housing stock in efficient condition. The agency issued its first home improvement loans in 1978 and first energy conservation loans in 1979. 

The early 1980’s, however, marked the first challenging period for the agency. Soaring tax-exempt financing rates in 1981 underscored the economic hurdles of the era. Nationally, “affordable housing” had become a stigmatized concept amid a period of federal disinvestment in older developments. In 1983-1984, VHFA issued its last multifamily bond for rental housing subsidized through the Section 8 substantial rehab/new construction program and HUD stopped issuing any future funding through the program. This federal moratorium functionally paused the development of new affordable housing in America. 

Simultaneously, older publicly supported affordable housing developments funded before VHFA was created, were starting to show signs of disrepair due to deferred maintenance. Recognizing the need to preserve as much existing affordable housing as possible, VHFA collaborated with the City of Burlington in 1982 to rehabilitate the King Street Neighborhood under a federal program and by 1984, initiated financing for mixed-income multifamily housing, demonstrating resilience amidst reduced federal subsidies. These apartments still provide critical affordable housing in state’s most diverse neighborhood, with contracts still administered by VHFA’s Asset Management & Compliance team.

The new affordable housing landscape: 1986-1998 

The late 1980s and early 1990s in many ways set the stage for what has become Vermont’s modern affordable housing landscape. The introduction of the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) program in 1986 marked a turning point, enabling VHFA to adapt its resources to meet evolving housing needs.  On the heels of a multi-year moratorium on the development of federally supported affordable housing in the United States, the LIHTC program ultimately became the most used affordable housing program in the country. 

In 1988, VHFA founded Housing Vermont (now Evernorth), a nonprofit organization for affordable housing and community investment. In the 35 years since its creation, Evernorth has raised and deployed over $1.6B in equity capital for affordable housing and built more than 17,000 affordable homes and apartments for low and moderate income people across northern New England. 

To prevent the potential loss of precious affordable housing in the future, VHFA established the Perpetually Affordable Housing Program in 1989, a mortgage program supporting the efforts of non-profit organizations creating shared appreciation housing opportunities. The preservation of Northgate Apartments (1990) and the rehabilitation of historic Officers’ Row at Fort Ethan Allen (1991) further showcased VHFA’s commitment to longterm affordability and community development. 

VHFA continued to find new ways to support affordable housing resources for current and prospective homeowners. In 1992, VHFA launched its first permanent down payment assistance program for Vermont homebuyers with funds from the Interest on Real Estate Transactions Account (IORTA), still used today as basis for the Shared Equity Assistance Program. By 1996, VHFA had supported the creation of homeownership centers across the state, expanding access to affordable housing opportunities. 

The late 1990’s in many ways shaped the agency into what it is today, perhaps none more so than the 1995 purchase of the VHFA main office building on St. Paul Street in Burlington’s King Street neighborhood. The building, originally built as a carriage factory in the late 1800’s, has been a unifying force for the agency over the last thirty years. VHFA then and today strives to create a healthy work environment for staff to be in community together. The office layout, redesigned by staff in the 2010s, reflects that vision. 

The agency hired Sarah Carpenter as executive director in 1998. Carpenter, a Burlington native who came to VHFA after 20 years at Cathedral Square affordable senior housing, would go on to lead the agency for the next twenty years through a period of innovation and growing state-level leadership. 

The new millennium: 1998-2019 

The turn of the new millennium was an inflection point in many ways for VHFA, with the agency continuing to innovate to best meet the housing needs of Vermont. In 2000, VHFA took on a new role in federal advocacy. A first for VHFA at the national scale, the agency’s advocacy was ultimately successful in increasing caps for LIHTC. VHFA would go on to win an award with the National Council of State Housing Agencies (NCSHA) for innovation using Section 8 vouchers to purchase homes. 

Locally, VHFA took on a leadership role in the Vermont affordable housing landscape. The agency led collaborative initiatives like the Vermont Housing Awareness Campaign (2001) and the Vermont Responsible Lending Initiative (2004), each of which empowered Vermonters with knowledge and resources to navigate housing challenges.

VHFA launched a common rental application in 2007, helping eliminate redundant applications and streamlining the entire process for applicants, property managers, and VHFA’s asset management team. In 2010, VHFA would sponsor the first Vermont Statewide Housing Conference, which has been held biennially ever since. The conference has evolved into the largest meet-up of housing advocates in the state, with more than 500 attendees in 2024. 

VHFA innovated technologically to improve the quality of our services several times in the early 2000’s. Notably, the fledging research department launched the Vermont Housing Data website in 2003, still accessible at HousingData.org. The site has over the past 20 years solidified itself as the premier open-access source of high quality Vermont housing data. VHFA would continue as a thought leader in Vermont’s housing landscape by launching the VHFA News blog in 2008 (originally called “Housing Matters”). The still active blog is a consistent source of up to date information about housing in Vermont, including housing news updates, research publications, and agency highlights. 

The national housing situation changed dramatically in 2008 when the Great Recession increased the need for safe, affordable housing for many families. VHFA launched the Housing Assistance Rehabilitation Program (HARP) to rehab and resell foreclosed homes to qualified low-income buyers. Unfortunately, Vermont specifically was hit with a second major blow in 2011 when Hurricane Irene severely flooded several communities across the state and destroyed hundreds of homes. That year, VHFA worked with the state legislature and other partners to launch a highly successful mobile home replacement program which later won a national award. As Vermont home prices rose further out of reach of middle and lower income buyers during this period, VHFA began to offer down payment and closing cost assistance during this period. In 2016 the state legislature approved using the Vermont Affordable Housing Tax Credit to support what is now called the ASSIST down payment assistance program. 

After 20 years in the position, Sarah Carpenter retired as Executive Director, being replaced by Maura Collins in 2019. Collins, a 20-year employee of the agency, took on the role right as the agency and the world were about to enter an unprecedented new decade. 

VHFA today: 2020 and beyond

In recent years, VHFA has pursued bold innovations to address the series of unprecedented challenges that have unfolded nationally and locally since 2020. As the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted lives, VHFA quickly launched emergency programs to help homeowners and renters stay housed. With Covid-era federal funding, VHFA launched the Emergency Mortgage Assistance Program (2020) and the Vermont Homeowner Assistance Program (2021-2024) to help pay mortgage arrearages and overdue utility bills. The agency also launched the First-Generation Homebuyer Program in 2022 to provide greater access to the generational wealth that is homeownership for Vermont’s marginalized communities.

Recognizing the need for more flexible funding sources during the difficult development environment of the postpandemic period of dramatic inflation, VHFA launched the Middle Income Homeownership Development Program in 2023 and the Rental Revolving Loan Fund in 2024 to provide avenues to address Vermont’s need for mid-priced housing. Each program builds from VHFA’s legacy of designing programs to fill gaps in the funding landscape to meet Vermonters’ housing needs.