Vermont has a shortage of housing, and while there are several causes of this shortage, economists acknowledge that COVID seriously disrupted the housing market. Here in Vermont, we saw an influx of “flatlanders” seeking immediate housing outside population centers, who had large amounts of cash, needing no mortgages, who consequently drove up the price of housing.
Then the Federal Reserve increased interest rates, decreasing demand on the part of buyers who needed mortgages, and causing the number of new homes in the “pipeline” to decrease, meaning that there is now a shortage of new housing. But there are additional issues as well: environmental requirements that are stricter than federal requirements; investigations related to historic preservation and archeological studies; and a permitting process that seems to have no end!
And as for rental real estate, Vermont’s laws are decidedly in favor of the tenant; eviction proceedings seem to take forever, and there are local proposals pending to eliminate so-called “no fault” evictions. So why is there a shortage of rental housing in Vermont, you ask? Who in his right mind would want to be a landlord in this state?
The result of all this is that the cost of housing in Vermont has been driven sky high, with new, single-bedroom, government-subsidized housing often exceeding $500,000 per unit! This makes little sense, and there are a few things the legislature can do to fix these problems other than just throwing money at the problem:
- Relax state regulations relating to asbestos and chemicals such as PCBs so they do not exceed federal standards;
- Exempt from Act 250 review suburban and rural housing that meets approved local standards, thus providing suburban and rural housing the same treatment that the legislature provided this past session for city and town centers;
- Create a special landlord/tenant docket so these cases can proceed through court more efficiently, and make clear that the legislature will not approve any effort to eliminate “no fault” evictions;
- Encourage rehabilitation of existing housing stock, offering subsidies for such action, but limiting the subsidies so the total cost of construction does not exceed the average cost of non-subsidized construction.
Koch can be reached by email at KochforVermont@gmail.com, and his website is www.DonaldKochforVT.org