News Roundup

The affordable housing crisis is reaching a fever pitch.  The below stories are just a sampling of some of the ways housing has appeared in the news recently:

• VPR segment features the "devastating" rise in homelessness: https://www.vpr.org/post/hud-growth-homelessness-during-2020-was-devastating-even-pandemic?mc_cid=7071e49964&mc_eid=3343deb933#stream/0
  
• Vermont has the highest median price for new construction homes--a leading reason why new construction is almost at a standstill in Addison County: www.marketwatch.com/story/this-state-has-the-least-affordable-housing-market-in-the-u-s-based-on-income-and-its-not-california-11615974744
  
  • It also doesn't help that lumber costs have skyrocketed more than 180% this year: https://www.nahb.org/news-and-economics/housing-economics/National-Statistics/Framing-Lumber-Prices
    
• By other measures, we aren't doing quite as badly as the rest of the country, but as the Times-Argus notes, "the average isn't good"
  

ACCT is working tirelessly to alleviate the shortage of affordable housing.  For example, in partnership with John Graham Housing and Services, we recently added four Zero-Energy Modular homes to one of our mobile home parks in Bristol that will house formerly homeless families and individuals with disabilities.  Almost one in five of our apartments are housing some of the most vulnerable Vermonters--people who formerly experienced homelessness.  Additionally, about a third of our apartments have rental assistance, meaning that residents will never have to pay more than 30% of their income in rent.  And in 2020, we helped our residents access over $200,000 in Rental Housing Stabilization funds to avert eviction. 

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