A Vermont housing non-profit will receive millions from the philanthropist ex-wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.
Bezos ex-wife gives $20 mil to Vermont housing non-profit
CORRECTION BELOW: State invests another $55 mil, new home construction slow and expensive
Despite another infusion of taxpayer-funded capital, Vermont’s housing industry is struggling to meet demand due to workforce, materials, supply chain, and regulatory challenges.
Ellis: Montpelier’s reckoning – a proposal
We have the expertise and the determination to do this. Now we must face ourselves in the mirror and recognize that we must innovate our way out of this or slowly wither away.
McClaughry: San Francisco’s homelessness crisis
As San Francisco progressives are learning, government can build more shelter, but that doesn’t mean the homeless will use them.
Evslin: A helping hand shouldn’t become an indispensable crutch
It’s an iron law of economics that, given enough time, there is no limit to demand for free stuff. When programs are extended beyond the emergency which gave rise to them, people do become dependent.
Starting July 1, homeless hotel recipients down to 1214 households @ $153/night
Total for 30 days: $5,572,260, to be paid out of existing state revenue.
Legislature considers indefinite homeless hotel funding
Montpelier is in a quandry over homeless housing as the June 20-22 veto override sessions looms.
Evslin: S. Burlington is planning to require solar on new residential housing
What about doing it the other way around? We need housing more than we need solar panels.
Koch: What can Vermont do with its homeless?
We need to remember that which is too often forgotten—that just throwing money at a problem has never solved the problem it was intended to solve and has often created new and unforeseen problems.
UPDATE: Spray painting at lawmaker’s residence says, “It must be nice to have a home”
A South Burlington lawmaker appears to have been targeted with spray-paint vandalism for not doing more for the homeless.
700 households forced to leave homeless hotels
On Checkout Day, as with any other long-ignored day of reckoning, the fear and heartbreak were all too real.
House Speaker urges another State of Emergency after Scott vetoes budget
Suddenly both Scott and the Democratic leaders of the Legislature were fighting to be seen by the ‘Gang of 17’ as champions of beneficiaries of a program they were responsible for defunding.
Baker: Something for nothing dehumanizes homeless people
When you give something to people and require no payback of any sort, you dehumanize them. You create an imbalanced relationship. People must have a measure of responsibility and investment in their own lives.
Help for homeless will have recipient requirements, Scott administration says
Gov. Scott outlines a path forward from the ‘homeless hotel’ era.
Krowinski sends budget without ‘homeless hotel’ $$ to Scott, blames him for failing to plan
It’s not the Legislature’s fault that the homeless hotel program is ending without a transition plan. Just ask the Speaker of the House.
Bossange: Need for 40,000 new homes a myth
The real danger here is that the “24,000 job vacancy” myth feeds the “40,000 new homes needed” myth, creating a false sense of urgency.
California mayor says he has the solution for homelessness
Maybe this California mayor’s “accept help or get cited” approach would work in Vermont. Maybe it wouldn’t. The question is: what local or state government strategy WOULD work?
Homeless hotel funding to end, barring last-minute decision in Legislature
A State of Vermont letter went out to ‘homeless hotel’ residents on May 2, warning most of them to be out by the end of the month. The rest will have until the end of June.
Short-term rentals play small part in housing crunch
Air BnB’s aren’t to blame – much – for Vermont’s housing crisis.
Bartley: Housing status quo no longer acceptable
It’s clear the process is broken. Status quo can no longer be an excuse.
Frustrated lawmaker demands answer to chair’s refusal to allow Act 250 amendment
“You want to have it both ways. You want to say we can’t work on this, we’ve got no time, and then you want to say we can’t do this because we haven’t worked on it, I’ll tell you what word I would put in my mouth – gaslighting, that’s what that is,” Rep. Caleb Elder told Housing and General Chair Tom Stevens.
House drops rental registry over cost kerfuffle
Setting up a rental registry proved so costly that House leaders have dropped implementation in favor of a study.
Report: Vermont 4th highest SF home property tax rate in U.S.
Windham, Orange and Caledonia counties ranked 1-2-3 in effective property tax rates. Chittenden and Lamoille were near or at the bottom.
Senate tug-of-war continues over Act 250 housing bill
Key Senate committees are at odds over S100, the Legislature’s signature effort to relieve Vermont’s housing crisis.
UVM Holds Groundbreaking Ceremony for South Burlington Housing Complex
Catamount Run will add more than 550 beds at City Center by Fall 2025.
The Vanishing Vermont Single-Family Home
Faced with a housing shortage and skyrocketing housing costs, the Vermont Legislature wants more urban duplexes and quadplexes. And fewer garages.
Median price new VT home: $554,000, up 21%
In the age of ‘equity,’ wealth-creating home equity becomes less and less attainable for young and lower income Vermonters.
The latest solution to Vermont’s housing crisis? Paying landlords to rent to people
The Vermont State Housing Authority launched the Landlord Relief Program last week with help from the state Department for Children and Families.
Winooski landlords, tenants butt heads over ‘just cause’ eviction charter change
No-one enjoys the eviction process. Winooski landlords say a pending charter change will just make it worse.
Hospital’s solution to worker shortage: build them housing
Company-operated worker housing was a ‘thing’ back in the heyday of Burlington/Winooski area mills. Now it’s returning as large employers like UVMMC are struggling to find workers due to the housing shortage.
$32 mil in fed, state funding to build, rehab 244 homes
With a heavy emphasis on housing low-income and homeless Vermonters, a state housing board has allocated $32 million in government funds.
Hollowed Community? Residents ring alarm over growth of unhosted short-term rentals
The pandemic brought with it “Covid refugees” with a strong desire to escape the uncomfortably crowded, but locked-down cities. It’s just one of the reasons for the trend towards short-term rentals.
