VHFA urges $30 million for middle‑income homeownership and rental programs, asks $250K for modular‑housing study

The Vermont Housing Finance Agency asked the Senate Economic Development, Housing & General Affairs Committee on 2025-10-12 to fund two middle‑income housing programs at $15 million each and to provide $250,000 for a study of off‑site (modular) construction.

The agency’s executive director, Maura Collins, said the two programs — a homeownership development loan and a rental revolving‑loan fund — are intended to serve households that earn just above income thresholds for subsidized housing and therefore “miss that cutoff.” Collins told the committee VHFA would cap its subordinate loans at about 35% of a project’s development cost to fill financing gaps and, on the homeownership side, to cover the common appraisal gap between construction cost and lending value.

Collins outlined how the homeownership program covers the difference between what it costs to build a starter home and what that home will appraise for, and how a subordinate VHFA loan can also be used to “buy down” a sale price so affordability remains with the home on resale. On rental projects, Collins said VHFA provides below‑market construction financing that converts to a permanent mortgage and can offer lower…