A program in northwest Vermont that helps people from marginalized communities with down payments on their first homes is expanding statewide.
The program was first launched two years ago by the Champlain Housing Trust to assist Vermonters who are BIPOC — Black, Indigenous and people of color — with down payments on their first homes in northwestern Vermont, said Michael Monte, the trust’s CEO.
“The nation has a disturbing history of lending and other policies that created a significant homeownership and wealth gap between white and non-white citizens,” he said.
The trust’s Homeownership Equity Program (HEP) helps to “enhance and encourage homeownership” for people of color across the state, according to the website. A bonus down payment assistance program also provides loans of up to $25,000 that are forgivable if buyers own and live in the home for at least three years.
Originally created in northwest Vermont with a three-year grant from the New England Federal Credit Union, the down payment program is being expanded statewide through nine partner housing organizations.
The expansion is funded through $1 million set aside from a gift the trust received last fall from philanthropist MacKenzie Scott. In a press release announcing the program’s expansion on Monday, Monte called it “a great opportunity to increase equity and homeownership for people of color across the State.”
To be eligible, applicants must purchase a shared-equity home from the trust, be a first-time home buyer, have a household income at or below 100% of the area median income and identify as BIPOC.
The program has been “very successful” in northwestern Vermont so far and has received a lot of interest, especially from organizations led by African Americans and people of color such as the Kemp Center in Burlington, Monte said.
So far 23 homeowners have used the bonus down payment program — or about 46% of all of the participants in the program since it was launched in October 2022, according to the press release.
Among them is Marnie Avila Alvarez, for whom owning a two-bedroom condo in South Burlington is “a dream come true.”
“For us, it would have been impossible to buy a house,” Alvarez, 32, told VTDigger. “We just got here almost three years ago. Immigrants, but also new immigrants.”
A lawyer in Cuba, Alvarez came to Vermont with her husband, Osvaldo Viera Martiatu, in 2021 on a full scholarship for graduate studies at the Vermont Law and Graduate School. They lived in South Royalton, got a dog — Lucy. Alvarez graduated last August with an LLM in energy law. Both of them currently work at the law school, she said.
They were looking to move to Burlington but were daunted by the housing crunch and costs. One of Alvarez’s colleagues at the law school mentioned the Champlain Housing Trust’s BIPOC equity homeownership program and encouraged her to apply, which she did in June 2023.
After her application was approved, she was shown the South Burlington condo in October 2023 and finally purchased it in February.
When they first saw the place, Alvarez said they were surprised by how nice it was — well maintained, well lit and with space for their family to grow. She also liked being in a quiet community despite its urban location.
The down payment assistance program helped to cover the closing costs as well to make the purchase possible, she said. Otherwise, they didn’t have the money.
“Without that loan, I don’t think we would be here in this house today. Getting it was instrumental,” she said.
The staff is friendly and helped them be comfortable throughout the entire process, she added. Monte said the trust also provides language and education resources to interested participants.
Angie Hardman, executive director of in Montpelier, one of the partner organizations working to help expand the program, said she is excited to be able to soon offer the option to BIPOC residents in central Vermont.
“We know that in Vermont as a whole we have people of color who are trying to access homeownership and aren’t able to do so at the same rate as their white counterparts. So we’re just excited that there’s this additional assistance,” she told VTDigger.
The participating agencies will administer the Champlain Housing Trust’s expanded down payment assistance program in tandem with their own homeownership programs, Monte said.
Participating organizations include Shires Housing, Twin Pines Housing, Randolph Area Community Development Corporation, Housing Trust of Rutland County, NeighborWorks of Western Vermont, Windham & Windsor Housing Trust Downstreet Housing and Community Development, Addison Housing Works and Rural Edge, according to the release.