Champlain Housing Trust wins United Nations award

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(Host) A Vermont housing group has been recognized by the United Nations.

Champlain Housing Trust will be presented a “World Habitat Award” in October.

The agency, UN Habitat, gives the award every year to groups whose affordable housing programs can serve as models in other parts of the world.

For 25 years, Champlain Housing has used public subsidies to help lower-income people buy a house.

Chief executive Brenda Torpy says Champlain’s homebuyers agree that when they eventually sell, they’ll share part of their profit with future owners.

(Torpy) "To take our approach, which is give people a substantial support to get in, and then recycle some of that so you don’t have to resubsidize every successive buyer. This has been a tremendous benefit to be proven both on behalf of how it works for people who are buying, but also how it works publicly, when we’re all concerned about if you spend public money what’s the benefit overall.”

(Host) Torpy says the program has succeeded in maintaining homes in Burlington without driving up prices so much that people can’t afford to live there.

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