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 phosphorus Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL). VHCB staff said the capital dollars are designed to be spent on construction or equipment rather than operating costs, and that past capital appropriations have been used to leverage federal and other funds.

Major projects and programs

Selig highlighted current and recent VHCB projects, including a mixed-use redevelopment in Shelburne that VHCB said will include 68 rental apartments and 26 condominiums when complete. He also discussed a proposal to convert part of Bennington High School into housing: “It’s ARPA,” Selig said when asked how the 17 affordable units in that Bennington High project are funded, adding that VHCB received a large ARPA allocation for housing projects after the pandemic.

Liz Leeson, program director for the Farm and Forest Viability Program and the Rural Economic Development Initiative at VHCB, summarized the water-quality grant work VHCB administers for farmers. “Most of the projects that we work with are quite complex projects that take a long time,” Leeson said, noting that VHCB awarded about $807,000 in the most recent round and that those grants leveraged roughly $4.6 million of additional funding from partners including the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and the Vermont Agency of Agriculture.

Leeson said VHCB runs both a business-advising program for farms and a separate water-quality grants program. The viability program serves roughly 100–150 businesses a year and — according to VHCB’s figures presented to the committee — clients reported an average profitability increase of 36 percent in recent years; the program also helped clients access about $5.5 million in grants and loans last year.

Timing, leverage and project carryover

Committee members asked how quickly VHCB can obligate capital dollars. VHCB staff said smaller purchases like equipment can be fast, while infrastructure and field projects often take multiple years to complete because they rely on technical assistance, availability of construction labor and coordinated federal approvals. Leeson said the grant rounds are timed to match farm schedules and that some FY2026 appropriations will carry forward as multi-year projects.

Clean Water Fund Board and process

Witnesses described a statutory allocation process that separates capital money from other clean-water revenues. VHCB said the capital portion goes into a separate account that the Clean Water Fund Board — an interagency board including administration designees and six public members with subject-matter expertise — recommends how to spend. The board’s recommendations inform the administration’s budget language; VHCB staff said the board will make FY2027 allocation recommendations in the fall.

No formal committee votes were recorded during the presentation. Committee members indicated they may add statutory language or conditions when the committee later considers funding allocations.

Quotes and attribution

Gus Selig, director of the Vermont Housing & Conservation Board, represented VHCB’s overview and budget requests. Liz Leeson, VHCB program director, represented the farm programs and water-quality grant details. Other committee members questioned VHCB staff during the hearing and are cited generically where the transcript did not provide a full name.

What’s next

VHCB will await updated project budgets (VHCB said some developments are seeing higher construction costs than previously estimated) and the Clean Water Fund Board’s FY2027 recommendations. Committee members signaled they will examine remaining unobligated capital balances when VHCB returns or when the board’s recommendations are available.