Good Morning,

Earlier this year, VHFA, VHCB and DHCD initiated a study of affordable rental housing development cost factors in Vermont. We are trying to answer a couple questions: is affordable rental housing more expensive to build than market-rate rentals, and if so, why and what can be done about it? Also, can we better understand the relation between public policy goals and their impact on the cost of development.

To make this study as valuable to our development community as possible, we need information on the cost of producing market rate rentals. The more data we have around market rate development, the more meaningful the study will be. We hope you will consider providing project-level development cost data for inclusion in a comparative statistical analysis. Even if you only have information for a small component of the development costs (such as engineering, architectural, or construction), this is helpful. As described in the Use of Data Agreement in the documents linked below, all data you provide will be aggregated and anonymized to ensure confidentiality.

We have put out several requests for data over the past few months, and are hoping to have all participants submit their information this week if possible (please contact me if a slightly longer timeline would be helpful).

Participation is very easy and will not take much time out of your day:

• Download a spreadsheet at https://www.neighborhoodfundamentals.com/s/Market-Rate-Development-Data.xlsx and e-mail to Michael A. Spotts at  mspotts@neighborhoodfudnamentals.com. 
• Complete the survey at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/VHFAdata.
• Contact the consultant, Michael A. Spotts (mspotts@neighborhoodfundamentals.com), if you prefer to submit project data in another way.

Thanks for participating in this important effort. We will be sharing the results at the White + Burke developers’ conference in November, will blog about, and can share it in other ways when it’s done late this fall.

Thank you very much!

Seth Leonard | Managing Director of Community Development

164 St. Paul St, Burlington, VT  05401  |  802.652.3403

Vermont Housing Finance Agency

vhfa Affordable homes for a sustainable Vermont.