UPDATES: Help us name the merged VAHC/VAHC organization! Please rank the proposed names in this survey: https://forms.office.com/r/A5ce7yp8be View the Executive Director job posting here. Dear VAHC Members, Thank you to those who voted in our recent member poll! We had 56 total votes, and 51 of those were in support of merging with the Vermont Coalition to End Homelessness. When we count only votes of active member organizations (which is the group that will participate in the final vote on the official plan of merger), we still have the two-thirds majority support we need to proceed. The VA ..read more

I'm pleased to announce that VAHC has hired Anne Sosin as its Interim Director. Anne is a public health practitioner, researcher, and educator with a longstanding interest in affordable housing and homelessness. She brings nearly two decades of experience leading public health partnerships at the local, national, and International level. Her current research focuses on COVID-19 and rural health equity in Northern New England, and she is working with several coalition members on studies. Anne holds a BA from Dartmouth College and a MPH from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health ..read more

My name is Jack Reed, and I am one out of five AmeriCorps VISTAs that are serving in Vermont for the year – last year there were 25 AmeriCorps VISTAs serving in Vermont. Now, an 80 percent decrease in participation does not just happen and, frankly, is a product of the times – increased cost of living has made it impossible for most young people to move 1,400 miles away into a new community (as I have). I am lucky that I have been able to move such a distance and I am lucky that I have found housing within a state which ,lacks capacity not only for me, but also for its own residents. After I ..read more

The Coalition was sad to say goodbye to our two AmeriCorps VISTA Members last week: Justin and Grace, we will miss you! "AmeriCorps VISTA places individuals with nonprofit organizations, public agencies, and tribal governments to expand reach and deepen impact in making sustainable change that alleviates the impact of poverty. Through fundraising, volunteer recruitment, program development, and more, AmeriCorps members gain experience and leadership skills that put them on track for a life of service in the public, private, or nonprofit sector." If you aren't familiar with this incredible pro ..read more

Burlington, VT – In order to afford a modest, two-bedroom apartment at the Fair Market Rent in Vermont, renters need to earn $23.40 per hour, or $48,664 annually. This is Vermont’s Housing Wage, revealed in the annual ,Out of Reach Report released last week by the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC), a research and advocacy organization. Each year, Out of Reach reports on the Housing Wage, the hourly wage a full-time worker must earn to afford rent and utilities for a safe, modest home in the private housing market without spending more than 30% of their income on housing costs. The ..read more

By: Alexander Hedge March is Women's history month and the VAHC is excited to celebrate by highlighting a few of the many influential women in the affordable housing movement’s history. Since its inception, the AH movement has had women leaders at the helm. Women have been making a difference on every level: from the streets of neighborhoods all the way up to the chambers of the US capitol building. However, the path hasn't always been easy and many of the women mentioned in our spotlight had to overcome significant adversity, discrimination, and prejudice during their mission to provide safe ..read more

Like everyone, I’m sure, my newsfeed on Social Media has been filled with various posts pertaining to the arrival of the new year! The various memes, quotes, and other musings all express the optimistic hope for a brighter 2022: a seasonally typical optimism that has become even more palpable since the arrival of the pandemic. This cartoon struck me in particular because it reminds us that the date of January 1st is not magic. Turning the page to a new calendar does not in and of itself assure us of “good luck” in the days that lie ahead: the truth is, if we don’t bother to “put in” the work ..read more

While the winter season has brought forth colder days and darker evenings, some glimmers of excitement have emerged as the start of a new year and a changing Vermont draw near. Besides the rapid approach of a new legislative session in January, the political landscape of our state delegation is on the move and discussions and actions on how to deal with Vermont’s housing crisis are on the rise. At the local level, towns and cities continue to discuss local housing needs, zoning, and the spending of pandemic-relief funding from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). One example is in Burlington w ..read more

“Out of storm and manifold perils rose an enduring state, the home of freedom and unity.” These words are the epitaph printed on the gravestone of the first Governor of Vermont, Thomas Chittenden. The phrase serves as an acknowledgement of the determination and resolve that motivated the first Vermonters during the formative years of our state. Time and again this commitment to leave no Vermonter behind has been recognized and celebrated as a defining characteristic of our state. It is that same spirit that continues to drive Vermonters today, and inspires our commitment to legislation that ad ..read more

HUD has opened the Continuum of Care (CoC) competition for the 2021 Fiscal Year! A Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) has been published by the US Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD). In response to the NOFO, the Vermont Coalition to End Homelessness, as the Vermont Balance of State Continuum of Care (VT BoS CoC – VT-500), has issued a Request for Proposals for projects to be submitted for funding to HUD for the FY21 Competition. Application deadlines are in the RFP, which can be found here. Applications will be submitted to the Vermont State Housing Authority (VSHA), who ser ..read more