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Vt. hands out grants for jobs, housing

Barre, Vermont - June 17, 2010

Three-million dollars is coming to create housing and jobs across Vermont. The grants were announced Thursday in Barre. The money is from state grants funded by federal money from HUD.

There's $600,000 for Newport to rehab old apartments and $330,000 for Windsor to make historic apartments energy efficient. Brighton will get up to $1 million in loans to redevelop the vacant former Ethan Allen plant in Island Pond into a wood pellet company. And the Central Vermont Community Action Council received $800,000 to turn an industrial lot in Barre into its new offices.

"What we're talking about is taking down the old building and building another 15,000 square feet onto this current building. What it's going to do is make it much more accessible to low-income populations who need services. So instead of going to six different officers they can go to one place and get all their services under one roof," said Hal Cohen of the Central Vermont Community Action Council.

The Central Vermont Community Action Council hopes to be moved in by January. In total 100 people will work there-- helping to also boost downtown Barre businesses.

The grants are federal money that comes to Vermont from the Community Development Block Grant Program of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. They are awarded on recommendations from the Vermont Community Development Board and approval of Commerce and Community Development Secretary Kevin Dorn.

Click here for more on the Vermont Community Development Program.

Kristin Carlson - WCAX News