Vermont Housing Finance Agency seeks investors for historic “Housing for All” initiative

BURLINGTON, VT — Executive Director Sarah Carpenter announced Vermont Housing Finance Agency seeks investors for historic “Housing for All” initiative. Proceeds expected to create or rehabilitate 650 homes statewide.

Vermont Housing Finance Agency (VHFA) invited bids from investors Friday for the “Housing for All” initiative passed by Vermont lawmakers earlier this year. The proceeds from this financing will be used to create and rehabilitate an estimated 650 rental and owned homes across the state.

“We’ve repeatedly heard about how widespread the lack of affordable, decent housing is in many parts of Vermont,” said Governor Phil Scott. “By leveraging other funds, this investment will help create much-needed homes affordable for working Vermonters at the middle and lower end of the wage scale.”

Funded through a small portion of Vermont’s Property Transfer Tax revenue, the “Housing for All” initiative is the largest single commitment of state funds for housing development in Vermont’s history.

“We are delighted to use our experience with housing finance tools and investors to help strengthen the impact of this exciting initiative,” remarked VHFA’s Executive Director Sarah Carpenter.

In order to reduce the cost of underwriting and public offering fees, this particular financing will only be offered directly to institutional and organizational investors, and not to individual investors. This will help maximize the amount of proceeds produced with $2.5 million annual debt service for 20 years. The bids are due October 2, 2017. Information on future VHFA bond offerings can be found at www.vhfa.org.

Converting the proceeds from investors into new and rehabilitated housing will be the task of the Vermont Housing and Conservation Board (VHCB). VHCB has a 30-year history in Vermont of funding and supporting permanently affordable housing created by non-profits, municipalities and other public-private partnerships. VHCB is conducting outreach meetings around the state to explain the application process and solicit project ideas. More information can be found at www.vhcb.org.

VHFA is a non-profit agency created in 1974 by the Vermont Legislature to finance and promote affordable housing opportunities for low- and moderate-income Vermonters. Since its inception, the Agency has helped approximately 29,000 Vermont households with affordable mortgages and financed the development of approximately 8,600 affordable rental units.

Media Contact
David Adams
(802) 652-3478
Dadams@vhfa.org
Vermont Housing Finance Agency
164 St. Paul Street, Burlington, VT 05402-0408