The Vermont Housing Finance Agency (VHFA) announced that it has awarded almost $2.6 million in federal low-income housing tax credits (LIHTCs) and $400,000 in state housing tax credits for the construction or rehab of 356 affordable rental homes in 11 communities across the state.

It is anticipated that the federal LIHTCs and state housing tax credits will provide almost $25 million in up-front equity, according to the VHFA.

The tax credits will add affordable homes in Burlington, Montpelier, and White River Junction, and they will help renovate and preserve long-term affordability of existing housing in Arlington, Bennington, Marshfield, Rutland, and Shaftsbury. The LIHTC also will increase the number of permanent supportive housing units in the state for the formerly homeless.

“This year VHFA recognized the urgent need among our most vulnerable neighbors—the homeless—and we revised the state’s qualified allocation plan, which governs the allocation of these tax credits to give priority to applications that create permanent supportive housing,” said Sarah Carpenter, VHFA’s executive director, in a statement. “One-quarter of the federal housing credits will fund 31 units dedicated to people who were formerly homeless.”

The developments receiving federal LIHTC awards include:

  • Battenkill North in Bennington County: The scattered-site project, developed by Shires Housing and Housing Vermont, will redevelop and preserve 22 units in Arlington, Bennington, and Shaftsbury;
  • Bridge and Main in White River Junction: This mixed-use development by Bill Bittinger and Associates will include 16 affordable units, one market-rate unit, and ground-level commercial retail space;
  • French Block building in Montpelier: Downstreet Housing and Community Development and Housing Vermont will redevelop this historic downtown building to include 14 apartments for low-income households as well as four market-rate units;
  • Hickory Street in Rutland: Developed by the Rutland Housing Authority and Housing Vermont, the project, which is the third and final phase of the redevelopment of the Forest Park public housing community, will add 22 apartments for low-income households in three newly constructed buildings. The project also received state housing tax credits;
  • Hollister Hill in Marshfield: Housing Foundation will redevelop 16 existing apartments on 6.6 acres; and
  • North Avenue, Phase 1 in Burlington: Champlain Housing Trust, Housing Vermont, and Farrell Real Estate will partner on the first phase of this large-scale project. Phase one will include 31 affordable and five market-rate units.

Projects just receiving state housing tax credits are all acquisition/rehab efforts. They include:

  • Applegate in Bennington: 104 units by Housing Vermont;
  • The Briars in Wilder: 24 units by Twin Pines Housing Trust;
  • Colonial Village in Bradford: 21 units by Downstreet Housing;
  • South Meadow in Burlington: 64 units by Champlain Housing Trust and Housing Vermont; and
  • Sugarwood in Middlebury: 12 units by Green Mountain Development Corp.