FAIRLEE — The Vermont Housing & Conservation Board has awarded $1.15 million in federal funding to an affordable housing project in downtown Fairlee.
Village Ventures, a Fairlee-based firm owned by Jonah Richards, is working on creating 19 units of affordable housing at 26 Bridge St. and 573–579 Main St., in a project known as Bridge + Main, according to an April news release from the board. The project was approved by the town’s Development Review Board in December 2024, Fairlee Zoning Administrator Chris Brimmer said.
The money, which comes through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s HOME investment partnership program, will go toward renovating three historic buildings and constructing two new four-unit buildings, “which removes blighted and unsafe structures while bringing the existing buildings up to habitability,” according to the release.
Last fall, Village Ventures received more than $200,000 in tax credits through the Vermont Agency of Commerce and Community Development for the project.
The project’s total cost is $8.3 million.
“Construction is anticipated to begin in late summer 2026,” according to the release.
