As Vermont enters another legislative session, lawmakers are once again proposing housing legislation they believe will protect tenants from eviction and homelessness. While the intent may be laudable, the reality on the ground is far messier — and the consequences are increasingly harmful not only to landlords, but also to responsible tenants and to Vermont’s already strained housing supply.
The most transformative aspect of the newly adopted plan is the authorization of significantly taller buildings along the city’s major corridors.
To fix our housing crisis, Jericho woman says attitudes need to change as much as zoning regulations
How a 24-unit project reveals a statewide crisis in cost, regulation, and taxpayer inefficiency
Colchester is a haven for manufactured housing in pricey Chittenden County
Inside the multi-state fight against Federal funding caps
Because CHIP draws its repayment funds from the education portion of the property tax, it also touches the broader statewide education fund.
“The problem when you talk about housing affordability is an immediate assumption is that the state’s got to spend more money to create affordable housing and low-income housing,” the now-retired economist said. “That’s not the answer because the middle-income people you want to attract to the state aren’t going to be eligible for it.”
Vermont needs to stay off the front page of the WSJ unless, of course, it is a positive story.
Beneath the story of Fairlee’s $170K “miracle” units lies sweat equity, family loans, and a navigation of state and federal bureaucracy that, by the developer’s own account, were nearly ruinous.
A reaction to Scott’s Executive Order on Housing
Auditor’s report shows increase in homeless spending increases homelessness.
As currently written, the plans developed by our ruling class will make the inevitable decrease in our average standard of living even worse.
Currently, a quarter of Vermont renters spend more than 50% of their income on housing costs, which will continue to trend in the wrong direction if action isn’t taken, a Scott spokesperson said.
Alterra Mountain Company recently announced a capital plan of more than $400 million for the 2025-2026 season, a significant and recurring theme is investment in workforce housing.
“What that means for people in the farmworking community is that we’re obligated to stay on jobs where our rights aren’t being respected and we’re being abused, just because the farm is the only place where we’re able to get housing,” a Migrant Justice member said at the event.
This is why affordable housing projects completed or under development in places such as Putney, Bennington, Burlington, and other Vermont cities and towns are costing up to or exceeding $600,000 per unit. In California, the cost is closer to $1 million.
Downstreet Housing & Community Development and the Central Vermont Refugee Action Network (CVRAN) on Wednesday announced the opening of Randall Apartments, a newly renovated building that now provides four permanently affordable homes for New American families.
Spurred by drug abuse, mental illness, and possibly by state housing policies, homelessness has tripped since 2020. Will Trump’s plan work?
Most of a $68 million state and federal grant package announced yesterday will help flood-stricken communities build housing outside of flood-prone areas.
City officials in Montpelier cleared a homeless encampment near the downtown transit center this week, citing mounting safety concerns and violations of local ordinances that prohibit overnight camping in public parks. The action comes just weeks after Vermont’s pandemic-era motel voucher program officially ended, displacing hundreds of vulnerable Vermonters — and sparking renewed debate about homelessness, governance, and community responsibility.
Vermont’s General Assistance (GA) Emergency Housing Program, commonly known as the “hotel/motel program,” remains operational with no termination date, despite confusion among some residents, and cost Vermont taxpayers $33 million dollars last year.
Even before it started, the City of Burlington has pulled the plug on a controversial plan to allow up to a dozen homeless families park overnight on the shores of Lake Champlain.
Failure to extend the program will leave Vermonters living in cars, parks, sidewalks and riverbanks, they said.
Portability will now only be permitted to areas where the Voucher Payment Standards are less than or equal to VSHA’s highest standard.
Department refuses to release even anonymized data about where recipients came from — or if they’re from Vermont at all.
In theory, it’s about moving decision-making closer to the ground. In practice, it’s raising serious questions — from whether local agencies are ready, to whether the state is gambling with programs that are already working.
Three-quarters of that rise in sheltered homelessness occurred in four “sanctuary” areas representing just five percent of the population—New York City, Chicago, Denver, and Massachusetts (primarily suburban Boston).
It looks like a mobile home park. The state says it isn’t. The folks in this Williston neighborhood are frustrated they can’t access the help that classification would afford them.
The report, by the free-enterprise Common Sense Institute, also called into question most of the state’s “housing first” approach, saying it “may not be the best approach to addressing this challenge.”
“So we’re looking at nearly 50% with mental health [needs]… Large numbers, one in five with a developmental disability, nearly one in three with a physical disability. And so that is the type of people that this legislation would impact.”
Businesses suffer as millions spent on Homeless Hotels instead of housing
A new program to replace the state’s current emergency housing programs is up for a vote in the House this morning.
“If we saw this many deaths in any other program, there would be a desire for change,” Samuelson said.
Are progressive policies creating homeless, or attracting them?
Settings that already provide homeless housing might easily welcome 1-5 micro dwelling units in nearby empty parking lots.
From September through December, our homeless fellow Vermonters suffered multiple catastrophic outcomes, including many preventable deaths.
If we wish to have more employees for a healthier business community and want to encourage younger families to move here, we need to offer housing solutions.
To develop housing in Vermont, the hurdles have increased and are much higher, making the housing crisis all the more dire.
Instead of allowing 20 individuals to file an appeal, the new standard would require 20% of a municipality’s residents to participate.
The City has provided incentives, including approx. $4.6M in reduction of future taxes over the first 12 years, and around $750,000 in waived permit fees.
The committee this year has taken extensive testimony on just cause evictions, which would replace the ‘no cause’ eviction currently legal in Vermont. To date no specific legislation has been reviewed.
Originally designed to provide shelter during severe weather, the program’s cost has skyrocketed to tens of millions of dollars annually.
The State of Vermont is looking to start a dedicated fund for school construction, something the state has lacked for decades.
Climate mandates account for $30-$40K additional cost per unit, are chasing away construction workers.
In the Vermont county of Chittenden, where the median listing price is $576,600, a staggering 91.7% of homeowners are considered equity-rich.
Over the decades, Act 250 has grown into a broad regulatory framework that has hindered development while providing questionable benefits.
The new study sets regional housing production targets for 2030 and 2050
It’s clear: Vermonters are calling for thoughtful reforms to keep our state affordable, functional, and equitable for all residents.
The squatters defecated and urinated and started an indoor fire inside the unoccupied house, police say.
This new Board is a reorganization of the Natural Resources Board, the organization responsible for the administration of Act 250, Vermont’s land use and development law.
The draft report recommends legislation to approve just cause eviction, rent control (AKA ‘stablization), a rental registry, tenant right to counsel, and more funding for housing supports.
The $21.8 million project includes converting Newport City’s historic Sacred Heart Convent into 26 mixed-income rental units the high school into 24 condos.
Deputy Mayor Thomas Renner emphasized three goals city leaders are looking at: affordability, multi-bedroom units and putting units up for sale.
The organization alleges that the family shelters championed by the State are much more expensive than the hotel voucher program.
Strong support voiced for the draft Master Plan, despite many remaining questions.
“And, because of our country’s long history of racist and exploitative laws and policies, many of which continue today, Black Vermonters are unhoused at a staggering rate compared to white Vermonters,” the report states.
In terms of population growth, a net 3,000 people moved to the state in 2022, and that’s on top of a net of more than 14,000 people who previously moved here in 2021.
Only a handful of Vermont real estate housing developers could contend with the cost, time, and technical/legal aspects of prosecuting the local/State approvals.
The Blue Sky Estate previously listed for $6,275,000.
Vermont state and local governments lack the cash to continue the Housing First policy for the growing numbers of homeless people.
As the Democratic National Convention opens, Rep. Becca Balint is tweeting her concern for the high cost of housing.
A guide in Plain English!
A motel already in use for homeless housing since the pandemic has been purchased by a non-profit for use as a ‘homeless hotel.’
“Cleaning up contaminated properties and turning them into sites for housing and economic opportunity is key to community revitalization,” said Governor Phil Scott
Tent City, as the encampment was known, sat tucked in a patch of woods behind the downtown train station and Food City grocery store.
“The average Vermont home value is $392,682, up 4.7% over the past year and goes to pending in around 9 days,” -Zillow
Pet-friendly activities, lodging, hotels, restaurants, and cafes, -Vermont has all it all.
The land trust has a program to help people of color make a down payment on their house.
Tier 3 consists of “critical resource areas” where any activity within will more than likely trigger Act 250 jurisdiction and would, by some estimates, cover about 18% of the state’s land mass.
“They have to have a way to build wealth,” Rodgers said. “Home ownership is a way to build equity and wealth which will turn into intergenerational wealth. Without that, people are just working like dogs and they’re handing all their money over to some business or business owner.
Other progressive regions have added more housing, while Vermont’s regressive regulation has done real damage.
Instead of dumping $30-$50 million every few months…
The bottom line is that if we want housing to be affordable, wages must increase so people can purchase ever more expensive houses made from scarce resources.
The Homeless Bill of Rights made it through the House, but only after the Controversial ‘right’ to panhandle in public was removed.
Any bill that takes years to allow more housing construction under Act 250 faces a veto, Gov. Phil Scott said.
Consumers and local governments must bow to more government overreach.
Vermont must invest to end our housing crisis.
Touted as ‘pro-housing,’ the Act 250 reform bill gives a mid-2026 start date for Act 250 review-free housing, limits them to small areas of the state, and imposes a tight review process.
Apart from Burlington, use of the proferred temporary shelters was low – but that doesn’t mean the transition out of ‘homeless hotels’ was easy for everyone.
The Act 250 exemption for urban housing development won’t take effect until at least 2027 – and then under tight regulatory control.
Trying to control costs of housing Vermont’s homeless.
Remember when the Legislature said it would reform Act 250 to allow more housing? Apparently the Supermajority leaders can’t either.
The lead sponsor of the bill says the legislation is important for residents in areas likely to suffer flooding in the future.
No other state-funded employment directory requires employers to house workers hired under its auspices.
We need to accept the reality that 71,500 Vermonters live in poverty, with too many now homelessness. All Vermonters need a place to call home. Either we pay now or we pay more later.
The General Assembly (G.A.) cannot enforce us to abandon our cars or oil heaters.
The State of Vermont paid $3300 security deposits to a homeless hotel owner. He kept some of the money. Now he has to give it back – to the former residents.
The bill, H.618, aims to expand the legal definition of mobile home parks to include communities of mobile home owners who own their own lots.
Landlords won’t be allowed to make tenants leave just because their lease has expired, a proposed Montpelier city charter change says.
This crisis is solvable. But state leaders’ proclivity for short-term, wasteful solutions, hinders effective and lasting change.
Climate-change minded lawmakers need to be ready to provide more housing to ‘climate refugees,’ an influential state senator argues.
The new MOU would commit UVM to providing 1.5 beds per undergraduate student enrolled above fall 2023 level; City to up-zone three campus parcels at Trinity, East Ave, and the Waterman block
We are doing the homeless and mentally ill no favors by letting them suffer in public, unsupervised spaces.
15 months after receiving unanimous approval but then hitting strong Act 250 headwinds, a five-unit Tiny Home project is ready to move forward.
We can’t keep kicking the can down the road. We owe it to Vermonters to act now to ensure our State’s future is bright.
With winter coming, the Scott administration says it’s time to get flood victims housed – with or without state and local government oversight.
A new homeless shelter will open near the Ret. 2/302 roundabout in Montpelier later this month.
The Scott administration hopes adding more housing to the market will lower one of the root causes of homelessness: exorbitantly high rental rates.
The homeless camp being investigated as the possible site of a school bus window shooting isn’t the only tent community in Vermont’s capital city.
