Vermont using ARPA funds to upgrade housing stock, address homelessness

By Brent Addleman | The Center Square

Existing and under-utilized housing structures around the state will be getting a facelift through the Vermont Housing Improvement Program, Gov. Phil Scott said.

The governor announced in a news release his office is working with the state’s Department of Housing and Community Development, and other state-wide partners, in an effort to bring dilapidated housing units back into use at a cost of $5 million. The program will use prior rental rehabilitation dollars and help renters and property owners needing the most assistance.

“Expanding the housing stock has been a top priority of me and my team, investing more than any Administration in history,” Scott said in the release. “In addition to building new housing, VHIP will be critical for bringing housing that has fallen into disrepair back online, helping provide more housing for the workforce, lift people out of homelessness, and aid in the transformational change we are seeking to create stronger communities.”

Funding for the program, according to the release, stems from the American Rescue Plan Act and is being invested in aging housing units. VHIP is providing grants of up to $30,000 per unit and require a 20% match in order to bring units back into compliance with housing codes and getting them ready for the marketplace.

According to the release, the first round of grants will go to those renters who are seeking permanent housing.

“Throughout the course of the pandemic many businesses received financial assistance, but one of the populations that has been overlooked is the mom-and-pop landlords across the state. We designed this program for the long run with the success of the landlord and the tenant in mind,” Housing and Community Development Commissioner Josh Hanford said in the release. “With this program, you are creating permanent housing and improving neighborhoods.”

Currently, the program is partnering with Champlain Housing Trust, Rural Edge, Downstreet Housing and Community Development, Windham and Windsor Housing Trust, and Neighborworks of Western Vermont, according to the release.

“We are working from the ground up, addressing the needs of the most vulnerable,” Shaun Gilpin Housing and Community Development Housing Division director said. “We have been working with Vermont’s five homeownership centers to create a new program that is based on successful models and improves upon past efforts to bring more housing on-line.”

Image courtesy of Bruce Parker/TNR

3 thoughts on “Vermont using ARPA funds to upgrade housing stock, address homelessness

  1. Cause gov. program allocation of funds has always, historically been super efficient and cost effective……… These are the same people that feel empowered handing out half rotten food at the government breadlines that continue to discourage able bodied individuals from actually EARNING a living and striving to achieve individual economic and sociological success.

  2. “Currently, the program is partnering with Champlain Housing Trust, Rural Edge, Downstreet Housing and Community Development, Windham and Windsor Housing Trust, and Neighborworks of Western Vermont, according to the release.”

    hopefully, a handful of coins will be left over after the bureaucrat get theirs…

  3. Feel good spin as money goes into the pockets of the well connected.

    What about allowing people to build small homes for ownership?
    What about allowing boarding homes for people with less money?
    What about allowing easy transportation on scooters for anyone over 16 who passed a drivers license?
    What about a decent education system instead of the indoctrination factors forced on our teachers and children?
    What about keeping the drugs out?
    What about promoting self-employment?

    People are getting very fat off keeping the average Vermonter in poverty. Socialist leaders and their connected cronies always live large, the rest not so much.

Comments are closed.