News & Articles

Vermont has received over 71,000 unemployment claims since the coronavirus pandemic reached the state.  An economic recession is almost certainly forthcoming. This economic disruption will impact Vermont’s housing markets and households, but the full effects will depend on the duration of the coronavirus outbreak.

To help re-house Vermonters in living quarters rendered unsafe by COVID-19, owners and managers of Vermont's subsidized apartments are encouraged to list all vacancies on the Vermont Housing Data website. In addition to Vermonters who find themselves in need of rental housing, HUD and FEMA both use this vacancy list to coordinate disaster recovery.

In the midst of the unprecedented outbreak of COVID-19, Vermont Housing Finance Agency is committed to continuing to provide excellent service to its partners while also safeguarding the health of its staff and of the community. To that end, as of March 16th, VHFA will be limiting the number of staff in our office. The majority of VHFA staff will be working from home.

The median Vermont primary home sold for $229,000 in 2019, according to Property Transfer Tax records, a 6.5% increase from 2018. This is the largest single year increase in median home prices since before the Recession, and a substantial increase over recent years’ home price growth. Since 2014, Vermont median home prices have increased by an average of 2.7% per year.

This commentary by VHFA Executive Director Maura Collins appeared recently in VTDigger

As the start of the 2020 U.S. census nears, it is important to understand its immense impact on our daily lives and why an accurate count of our nation’s population is so important.

VPR and Vermont PBS have released the results of the annual Vermont Rural Life Survey, which polls households from all across Vermont about life in their communities and the daily challenges they face. Vermont has the second highest percentage of its population living in rural areas in the United States.

Fall has started to arrive in Vermont, and with it is the return of many college students to the state. The impact of college students on local housing markets has long been a source of tension, particularly among long-term Burlington residents, who worry they may be priced out of housing by the large number of area students. By sharing an apartment and its rent bill, some students are able to pay higher rents than many other households.

The economic recovery is being felt among many households, with home equity wealth rising and more Millennials becoming homeowners. However, gains in homeownership have not been equally distributed among all Americans.

Roughly 9,000 Vermont senior households receive some form of financial rental help compared to 8,000 younger households, according to a report recently completed by VHFA on the distribution of rental subsidies by age group.

Vermont’s population has grown by just 0.1 percent since 2010, with a net increase of 555 people, according to the latest Census Bureau estimates. Vermont had the 48^th smallest population increase among states in the nation, both in absolute numbers and percent increase.

A recent study illustrates how new market-rate housing construction in one part of town, especially in markets with low vacancy rates, improves housing affordability for lower income residents in other parts.

The annual Burlington Young Professionals (BYP) survey conducted by the Lake Champlain Regional Chamber of Commerce reveals that 33 percent of young adults surveyed plan to move out of the area within the next four years. Among the most common challenges cited were the high cost of living, lack of job growth opportunities, and a lack of affordable housing.

Nearly 90% of extremely low-income Vermont renters spend an unaffordable amount of their income on housing costs, according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC)’s recently released annual report The Gap: A Shortage of Affordable Homes. The report highlights a critical shortage in the availability of affordable housing across the country.

More than one in three Vermont households live in homes that consume unsustainably high portions of their income, according to estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau.

America’s housing stock was primarily built for nuclear families, yet fewer and fewer households fit into that category, according to Making Room: Housing for a Changing America, a new report from AARP. The report argues that communities need to create housing that is more affordable and accessible for single-person, senior, and multi-generational households.    

Vermont home prices reached new highs in 2018, continuing a four year trend of growth. However, household incomes have not kept pace, making it increasingly difficult for low and middle-income Vermonters to become homeowners.

Last week, VHFA Executive Director Maura Collins spoke on a housing panel at the Vermont Economic Conference in Burlington. She was joined by Jonathan Slason of Resource Systems Group, Inc. and moderator Leslee MacKenzie of Coldwell Banker Hickok & Boardman Realty.

Vermont’s economy is growing but not in every county, and its gains have disproportionately benefited higher income Vermonters, according to the 2018 update of “State of Working Vermont” from Public Assets Institute. Poverty is distinctly more prevalent among younger Vermonters and Vermonters of color, the report notes.

New estimates from the ACTION Campaign demonstrate the significant impact that the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit has had in Vermont, including creating and preserving over 7,000 affordable homes since 1986 and supporting nearly 8,000 jobs per year.

Vermont Housing Finance Agency (VHFA) announced today the launch of a robust, free resource connecting Vermonters to information about housing vacancies and community needs. Low and moderate income Vermonters who lack adequate, stable housing they can afford suffer elevated health and safety risks. This recently reinvented resource, known as the Vermont Housing Data website, represents years of collaboration among stakeholders seeking to increase the number of stably housed Vermonters through state of the art information sharing tools.