Echoes of dystopia: Sanctuary Districts in DS9 and Burlington’s permanent homeless pods
Page: Burlington’s new Sanctuary District?
Keelan: Why I would not build residential rental housing
The Vermont political leadership, at the federal, state, and local levels (except for Governor Phil Scott’s administration), has made numerous announcements about how they wish to control residential rental housing in Vermont. They have made it their mission to stigmatize those who are residential rental landlords with comments such as, “they are gouging their tenants, making huge profits while providing minimum services.”
Bill making homeless teens more independent moves through committee
This week, the House Committee on Human Services has heard testimony on H.657, a bill that changes or establishes multiple practices within the Department of Children and Families (DCF), including overseeing a qualified minor’s social security income, defining the proper use of restraints and transportation for minors, restricting the use of solitary confinement on minors, the use of pregnancy calendars or tracking pregnant individuals, and reforming unaccompanied homelessness for minors.
Lawmakers create emergency pathway for Section 8 vouchers, but no immediate cash infusion
Understanding what actually happened requires looking beyond headlines to examine the mechanisms, money, and competing pressures shaping this decision.
VT Legislature presses DCF on $11M housing money
At issue is approximately $11.1 million in General Assistance (GA) emergency housing funds originally appropriated in State Fiscal Year 2025 and carried forward into FY2026. According to testimony and internal communications reviewed by the House Human Services Committee, DCF expected at least a $5.5 million underspend in the GA emergency housing line.
Coalition urges legislature to extend Act 181 timelines to avoid confusion, housing delays, and local disruption
Speakers warned that Act 181 is moving faster than the maps and rules needed to implement it clearly and fairly, creating uncertainty for towns, housing projects, and working landowners across Vermont. The coalition is urging legislative leaders to take up H.730 to extend timelines and prevent further misalignment.
Soulia: VT emergency housing reform bill scrapped for a bill nobody has seen
The bill creates a five-tier continuum of care ranging from high-barrier shelters with mandatory case management to permanent supportive housing, including repurposed hotels and motels.
Vermont senator proposes annual tax on vacant homes to address housing crisis
Senator’s proposal would transform one-time purchase surcharge into yearly assessment
Page: Response to Maryellen Griffin’s commentary on evictions and homelessness
Hard facts and market dynamics suggest that increasing hardship for owners can drive independent landlords out of business, ultimately reducing housing availability, flexibility, and affordability—exacerbating the very housing crisis Griffin seeks to address.
‘Return home’ homeless likely can return to VT, receive benefits
Can the state of Vermont impose residency requirements for its welfare programs? This was the topic of debate last week in the House Committee on Human Services when Representative Brenda Steady (R-Milton) asked if fraud could result from the “return home” provisions in H.594.
How modern factory-built homes could solve the State’s housing crisis—if regulators would let them
A surge in homelessness and a 32% construction labor shortage have exposed Vermont’s housing crisis as a shelter emergency. Meanwhile, a transformation in off-site construction has created homes that are often higher quality and more energy efficient than traditional builds—at half the cost. So why do state and local regulations still treat them like the mobile homes of 1970?
Soulia: VT bill would speed up evictions, tighten court timelines
Only 3 days of warning given for eviction, under the new proposed bill.
Vermont lawmakers push ‘accountability’ model in H.594 to rein in $2.7M monthly motel costs and homelessness crisis
The most discussed feature of H.594 is the Return Home Program, where the state would fund travel and relocation for unhoused individuals who wish to return to a state where they maintain legal reside
Soulia: VT bill would centralize vaccine authority in Health Commissioner
House Bill H.545, introduced by Rep. Theresa Wood (D–Washington-Chittenden) and Rep. Alyssa Black (D–Chittenden-24), would shift the power to set immunization recommendations from federal agencies to the Vermont Department of Health. It would require all insurers to cover any immunization recommended by the commissioner with no copayments, coinsurance, or deductibles, and grant immunity from most civil and administrative liability to health professionals who administer those vaccines in accordance with state guidance.
$1,000 or $30,000? The stark divide over Vermont’s 2024 Building Energy rules and their impact on the housing crisis
Vermont’s 2020 energy standards focused on basic quality and efficiency. In contrast, the 2024 standards are designed to support the state’s Global Warming Solutions Act.
Out-of-state owners dominate Stowe’s vacation rentals—Now the Town is fighting back
Registry data reveals a significant disconnect between the perception of local hosts supplementing income and the reality of ownership patterns.
As Brattleboro moves to close homeless encampments, opponent claims ‘hobophobia”
After years of coping with rampant drug use, vandalism, littering, unsanitary conditions, crime and panhandling that downtown business owners say drives away customers, the town selectboard on January 6 resolved – almost – to remove encampments – a policy first proposed three years ago.
Bernie asked by high schoolers: how can we ever buy a home?
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.
Blakeman: Punishing landlords won’t solve housing crisis
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.
Essex Junction approves master plan for nine-story buildings and major urban transformation
The most transformative aspect of the newly adopted plan is the authorization of significantly taller buildings along the city’s major corridors.
One woman’s personal fight to provide housing in Vermont
To fix our housing crisis, Jericho woman says attitudes need to change as much as zoning regulations
Soulia: Is affordable housing in VT affordable?
How a 24-unit project reveals a statewide crisis in cost, regulation, and taxpayer inefficiency
One town’s secret to affordable housing? Mobile homes
Colchester is a haven for manufactured housing in pricey Chittenden County
Trump ends Vermont “Housing First” policy
Inside the multi-state fight against Federal funding caps
Deal: Housing-first plan CHIPing away at school funding?
Because CHIP draws its repayment funds from the education portion of the property tax, it also touches the broader statewide education fund.
Vermont’s “appalling” housing costs rooted in excessive regulation
“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.”
Keelan: Small towns down on leaf-peeping, housing
Vermont needs to stay off the front page of the WSJ unless, of course, it is a positive story.
Vermont asks builders to copy Fairlee’s model—but a $500K tax bomb says otherwise
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.
Kinsley: A piece of the puzzle?
A reaction to Scott’s Executive Order on Housing
Roper: Data and analysis? Not so much in Montpelier.
Auditor’s report shows increase in homeless spending increases homelessness.
Fireovid: Blinded by the artificial light
As currently written, the plans developed by our ruling class will make the inevitable decrease in our average standard of living even worse.
Citing need for more housing, Scott slows push for heat pumps
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.
Stratton and Sugarbush Resorts owner is taking the housing crisis into it’s own hands
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.
New law says illegal immigrants don’t need social security # to apply for rental 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.
Keelan: “Affordable housing is an oxymoron”
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.
State funding helps build permanently affordable homes for refugees, asylum seekers
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.
House reps analyze Trump order on homelessness
Spurred by drug abuse, mental illness, and possibly by state housing policies, homelessness has tripped since 2020. Will Trump’s plan work?
Grants will help flood-hit towns build homes above flood plain
Most of a $68 million state and federal grant package announced yesterday will help flood-stricken communities build housing outside of flood-prone areas.
Montpelier police responded to 45 incidents before clearing homeless encampment in Montpelier
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.
Homeless Hotel/Motel program is still active
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.
BREAKING: Burlington Mayor pulls plug on free overnight parking for homeless
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.
384 households will be living on the street after July 1, advocates warn
Failure to extend the program will leave Vermonters living in cars, parks, sidewalks and riverbanks, they said.
State housing authority says no new vouchers
Portability will now only be permitted to areas where the Voucher Payment Standards are less than or equal to VSHA’s highest standard.
Soulia: Why won’t DCF disclose who’s using the system?
Department refuses to release even anonymized data about where recipients came from — or if they’re from Vermont at all.
Soulia: H.91: The homelessness overhaul no one is sure about
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.
Study: most of U.S. sheltered homeless are asylum seekers
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).
Frustration stews at Williston senior community over state’s mobile home park rules
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.
Homelessness up by 212% in VT since 2020 – tops in nation
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.”
Vermont’s homeless are “nearly 50% with mental health” issues, senators learn
“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.”
Empty storefronts, full hotels
Businesses suffer as millions spent on Homeless Hotels instead of housing
Breaking: House to vote this morning on new homeless housing program
A new program to replace the state’s current emergency housing programs is up for a vote in the House this morning.
Homeless have died at higher rate in hotel/motel program, Scott official says
“If we saw this many deaths in any other program, there would be a desire for change,” Samuelson said.
Roper: Who is using the Motel Voucher Program?
Are progressive policies creating homeless, or attracting them?
Hafner: Microdwellings may provide relief to homelessness pandemic
Settings that already provide homeless housing might easily welcome 1-5 micro dwelling units in nearby empty parking lots.
Emergency shelter providers and organizations say the situation is dire
From September through December, our homeless fellow Vermonters suffered multiple catastrophic outcomes, including many preventable deaths.
Bossange: Solutions for the housing shortage
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.
Keelan: Let’s stop talking and start building
To develop housing in Vermont, the hurdles have increased and are much higher, making the housing crisis all the more dire.
Housing bill raises threshhold on development appeals
Instead of allowing 20 individuals to file an appeal, the new standard would require 20% of a municipality’s residents to participate.
$40M hotel and apartment complex to transform downtown Rutland
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.
Tenant, landlord discuss no-cause eviction
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.
Soulia: Vermont’s “temporary” hotel voucher program
Originally designed to provide shelter during severe weather, the program’s cost has skyrocketed to tens of millions of dollars annually.
New school construction bill prioritizes schools with “excessive reliance on fossil fuels”
The State of Vermont is looking to start a dedicated fund for school construction, something the state has lacked for decades.
Roper: VT Dems’ “Green” agenda is driving the housing crisis
Climate mandates account for $30-$40K additional cost per unit, are chasing away construction workers.
Vermont revealed the state with the richest homeowners
In the Vermont county of Chittenden, where the median listing price is $576,600, a staggering 91.7% of homeowners are considered equity-rich.
Soulia: Act 250: A barrier to Vermont’s economic future
Over the decades, Act 250 has grown into a broad regulatory framework that has hindered development while providing questionable benefits.
New study sets regional housing production targets for 2030 and 2050
The new study sets regional housing production targets for 2030 and 2050
Bartley: Balancing reform, affordability, and Vermont’s future
It’s clear: Vermonters are calling for thoughtful reforms to keep our state affordable, functional, and equitable for all residents.
Homeless squatters arrested for burglary, resisting arrest
The squatters defecated and urinated and started an indoor fire inside the unoccupied house, police say.
Gov. Phil Scott announces appointments to the newly-created land Land Use Review Board
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.
Landlords warn ‘just cause’ eviction will raise Vermont rents even higher
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.
$21.8M housing project to create 40 units in Newport area
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.
Winooski officials eye old National Guard armory for new housing site
Deputy Mayor Thomas Renner emphasized three goals city leaders are looking at: affordability, multi-bedroom units and putting units up for sale.
End Homelessness notes big overspending on emergency housing
The organization alleges that the family shelters championed by the State are much more expensive than the hotel voucher program.
‘Missing middle’ housing needed in Newport
Strong support voiced for the draft Master Plan, despite many remaining questions.
Vermont report blames “history of racist and exploitative laws” for high % of homeless blacks
“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.
Vermont needs 24,000 new homes minimum to meet growing demand
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.
Keelan: Some good news for housing – yes, really!
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.
Bids for Peacham equestrian compound start at $1.9 million
The Blue Sky Estate previously listed for $6,275,000.
Municipalities ‘overwhelmed by Vermont’s homelessness crisis’
Vermont state and local governments lack the cash to continue the Housing First policy for the growing numbers of homeless people.
Balint: Kamala likes my anti-landlord ‘price-gouging’ bill
As the Democratic National Convention opens, Rep. Becca Balint is tweeting her concern for the high cost of housing.
Lintz: Guide to Vermont’s new Short Term Rental Tax Law
A guide in Plain English!
Barre motel to become homeless shelter
A motel already in use for homeless housing since the pandemic has been purchased by a non-profit for use as a ‘homeless hotel.’
Gov. Scott announces $2.7M for rehab and reuse of brownfields
“Cleaning up contaminated properties and turning them into sites for housing and economic opportunity is key to community revitalization,” said Governor Phil Scott
St. Albans clears out homeless camp after raft of complaints
Tent City, as the encampment was known, sat tucked in a patch of woods behind the downtown train station and Food City grocery store.
Vermont tops nation in fastest-rising home prices
“The average Vermont home value is $392,682, up 4.7% over the past year and goes to pending in around 9 days,” -Zillow
Vermont sees pet-friendly housing revolution
Pet-friendly activities, lodging, hotels, restaurants, and cafes, -Vermont has all it all.
Champlain Housing Trust expands home-buying help based on race
The land trust has a program to help people of color make a down payment on their house.
‘Place-based’ Act 250 housing bill details explained
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.
Day before today’s rally, House OKs new Act 250
“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.
Pew: Minorities suffered under regressive Act 250
Other progressive regions have added more housing, while Vermont’s regressive regulation has done real damage.
Roper: A modest proposal for the homeless hotel debacle
Instead of dumping $30-$50 million every few months…
Fireovid: The affordable housing scam
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.
Legislators shorten Homeless Bill of Rights
The Homeless Bill of Rights made it through the House, but only after the Controversial ‘right’ to panhandle in public was removed.
Act 250/housing merger bill must move quickly to build housing, guv says
Any bill that takes years to allow more housing construction under Act 250 faces a veto, Gov. Phil Scott said.
Klar: New ‘green’ building code to dominate housing construction
Consumers and local governments must bow to more government overreach.
Rice: Meeting the moment
Vermont must invest to end our housing crisis.
House-approved Act 250 bill lacks veto protection
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.
Except in Burlington, no interest in temporary shelters
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.
Speaker’s Act 250 & housing bill has three-year delay
The Act 250 exemption for urban housing development won’t take effect until at least 2027 – and then under tight regulatory control.
Homeless hotel room rate capped at $80/night
Trying to control costs of housing Vermont’s homeless.
