VHCB outlines housing, conservation and clean-water requests; $10M FY27 allocation left to Clean Water Fund Board

The Vermont Housing & Conservation Board told the Corrections & Institutions committee it is seeking capital funding this budget cycle for affordable housing, land conservation and clean-water projects and described how those requests fit into a multi-agency funding process.

Gus Selig, director of the Vermont Housing & Conservation Board, told the committee the agency acts “as a public grant maker. Very simply, you give us money. We get it back to people in your communities to do things that are consistent with our statute.” He cited the board’s statutory mission in 10 V.S.A. chapter 15 as the basis for the work VHCB brings to the capital bill.

Selig and VHCB program staff described three budget lines in the committee’s clean-water section. For FY2026 VHCB identified $807,024 on line 102 for on-farm water-quality grants, $2,000,000 on line 103 for land conservation and water-quality projects, and noted the administration has set aside $10,000,000 in the capital bill for FY2027 to be distributed after recommendations from the Clean Water Fund Board.

Why it matters: those capital dollars are intended for construction and on-the-ground projects tied to the state’s clean-water goals and the Lake Champlain…