A sampling of housing news and resources from around Vermont and beyond
Vermont News
Earlier this month, a new Green Mountain Habitat for Humanity development in Essex Junction got some special attention from Vermont Nursery and Landscape Association volunteers. The crew installed a stone patio, stairs, and retaining wall, raised vegetable beds, annuals, perennials, and flowering shrubs. The property is home to four households in a new triplex and refurbished carriage house. Seven Days’ Eva Sollberger captured the landscape transformation in a “Stuck in Vermont” video: https://youtu.be/Fa2Ez_fmTTo
The town of Hardwick will soon have more safe, affordable housing. Lamoille Housing Partnership has started work on the Jeudevine Limited Housing Partnership, a $2 million rehab project updating 18 units of affordable housing on Highland Avenue, Slapp Hill, and South Main Street, including a commercial space in South Main Street property. Read more here: https://www.lamoillehousing.org/jeudevine-limited-housing-partnership/lhp-begins-2-million-rehab-project-in-hardwick
Thetford resident Michael Kiess is the new Workforce Housing Coordinator at Vital Communities. Kiess will organize community conversations around and help Upper Valley communities develop and strengthen workforce housing efforts. Learn more about the White River Junction-based nonprofit’s Workforce Housing project here: http://vitalcommunities.org/Workforce-Housing/
Good Ideas
Transit-oriented development is helping meet affordable housing needs in Chicago. The city has an ordinance designed to boost housing supply (and transit ridership) along frequently traveled public transportation routes. Developers building housing within a quarter-mile of train stations receive incentives such as decreased parking requirements and zoning for larger buildings. Since Chicago expanded the city’s transit-oriented development ordinance in 2015, there have been more than $2 billion in projects creating 8,000 new housing units under the program. Now the city is looking to expand the ordinance even more to include a few of the major bus routes, not just train stations. Read more here: http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/columnists/ori/ct-biz-tod-expansion-proposed-ryan-ori-20180622-story.html. Learn more about how the Chicago Transit Authority and the city Department of Planning and Zoning are working together on a public input process for the development here: https://www.transitchicago.com/rpm/todplan/
Federal Policy
The recent tax reform legislation “will have an uncertain effect on future low-income housing tax credit (LIHTC) investments because a reduction in corporate taxes lessens the financial incentive for corporations to make equity investments in tax credits,” according to a new report from the Urban Institute. “If LIHTC investments falter, developers will not build affordable rental housing and existing units will be lost.” The Low-Income Housing Tax Credit: Past Achievements, Future Challenges report notes that the housing credit is especially critical to rural communities that may be most vulnerable to decline in program investments. Although the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2018 (the March 2018 omnibus appropriations bill) included a 12.5% increase in LIHTC allocations for the next four years, it might not fill the gap created by the tax reform changes because it will have little effect on the pricing of credits and investor tax benefits and is not a permanent fix. Read the full article here: http://www.housingfinance.com/policy-legislation/report-examines-challenges-for-lihtc-program_o
Resource of the Week
Looking for a good primer on inclusionary zoning? Check out this resource from CityLab: https://www.citylab.com/equity/2018/07/citylab-university-inclusionary-zoning/565181/
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