South Burlington — The city’s housing committee asked the City Council to change the eligibility criteria for the Housing Trust Fund so the fund can support projects serving households at higher area‑median income (AMI) levels.

At the meeting, Nora Seneckel, chair of the housing committee, said the committee wants to increase the AMI threshold to allow greater flexibility when evaluating proposals. “We want to increase the AMI for grants and fundings for funding projects through the housing trust fund so that we have greater flexibility in the types of projects that we can fund,” Seneckel said.

Why it matters: Trust funds are a local subsidy tool intended to support affordable housing. Raising the eligible AMI range allows the city to partner on a broader set of development and homeownership programs, especially those that use multiple funding sources or target households just above the lowest AMI tiers.

Committee rationale and comparisons: Committee members pointed to neighboring municipalities’ practices: Burlington funds projects up to 100% AMI and other Vermont cities have used 100–120% AMI bands for certain homeownership or mixed‑income programs. The committee said expanding the cap would not remove prioritization for lower‑income households; rather, it would add procedural guidelines to prioritize lowest AMI applicants while enabling contributions to projects that serve households at up to 100–120% AMI.

Council response and action: Councilors expressed general support for the committee’s rationale and requested the committee provide a clean draft resolution for formal consideration. The council did not vote on the change at the meeting and asked staff to place the resolution on the next council consent agenda once the final text has been circulated.

What to watch: The council will consider the clean resolution at a subsequent meeting; the committee and staff plan to include language that clarifies prioritization for lower AMI households even if higher‑AMI projects become eligible.