(Host) The federal government’s attempts to stimulate the economy will result in the construction of a number of affordable housing projects in Vermont.
The Obama administration awarded $1.4 million today to the Vermont Housing Finance Agency.
David Adams of VHFA says the money will pay for 16 apartments in Swanton on the site of a former meatpacking plant.
(Adams) "Construction is scheduled to start in September. So it will happen very quickly, again, meeting the goals of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and should create quite an awful lot of employment opportunities for Vermonters up that way in the construction trades and the related fields."
(Host) A portion of the money the federal government spent on the bank bailout also will go toward affordable housing in Vermont.
Adams says in Johnson, apartments will be built on another former industrial site.
(Adams) "This has been in the pipeline for quite a number of years now. It’s a site that was formerly owned by the Vermont Electric Co-op. It’s a contaminated site, so as part of the construction of 28 affordable housing units, we’ll also be cleaning up a fairly significant contaminated site."
(Host) Both the Swanton and Johnson projects will be rented primarily to people earning up to 60% of the area’s median income – which is about $36,000 dollars a year.