By Guy Page
U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders was confronted by a blunt question about housing affordability during a visit Friday, January 9 to Mount Mansfield Union High School in Jericho, where a student asked how young Vermonters are supposed to afford a home amid rising property taxes and housing costs.
The question, which Sanders later recounted in a message to supporters, drew loud applause from nearly every student in the room and quickly became the focal point of the discussion. The student said the issue was one his grandmother worries about, underscoring how housing costs are affecting multiple generations.
Several students voiced concern that without major changes, they may never be able to buy a home in Vermont.
The average cost of buying a home in Jericho $552,410, which has seen a slight decrease of 0.3% over the past year. Jericho has seen a 91% increase in the cost of home sales since 2010. According to homestratosphere.com. Neighboring Underhill has a $566,000 average home sale price, according to Zillow. That figure has declined 4.5% since last year.
Sanders accurately responded that the housing crisis and high property taxes are driving young people out of the state and warned that Vermont risks losing an entire generation if affordability is not addressed.
As for solutions…..Sanders called for a more progressive tax system and a significant increase in the construction of affordable housing. In other words, Sanders said Vermont should solve the problem by increasing taxes on the income (and likely other assets) of the upper middle class and wealthy, allowing for the reduction or at least stabilization of property taxes , and building more affordable housing.
In Vermont, building ‘affordable housing’ usually looks like new, downtown multi-unit buildings comprised of small, mostly rental units costing $500,000 – $700,000 to build. Often the builders are NGOs and the funding comes directly from the government, or through government-backed loans.
What Sanders did not specifically call for is reducing the demand for property taxation by cutting spending.
Nor did Vermont’s senior senator suggest making new home construction less expensive by relaxing regulations on rural housing density, or scaling back ‘green energy’ building codes. Promoters of new affordable housing, including Gov. Phil Scott, say both measures would incentivize construction of large numbers of new, affordable.
The housing exchange was part of a broader question-and-answer session in which students raised issues ranging from artificial intelligence and tax policy to health care, education and climate change. Another student asked how Americans can better understand people with whom they disagree in an increasingly polarized political climate, prompting a discussion about finding common ground and building community.
Sanders praised the students as “smart, engaged and thoughtful,” saying their questions reflected a deep awareness of the challenges facing Vermont and the country.