Governor Phil Scott Wednesday reiterated the need to make it easier, less expensive, and faster to build the housing we desperately need; warns against some proposals under consideration
Montpelier, Vt. – At his weekly press conference Wednesday, Governor Phil Scott reiterated his call for the legislature to prioritize regulatory reform to make it easier, less expensive, and faster to build the housing we desperately need.
“On January 10, I stood here with a tripartisan group of lawmakers and stakeholders to outline good, solid proposals that had wide support, and I felt good about the odds of passing something meaningful. But one month into the session. I’m not as confident as I was that day,” said Governor Scott. “It appears, in some committees, they’re moving in the opposite direction. Instead of prioritizing how to produce more homes, which would address all kinds of issues like workforce, healthcare, property taxes, education and more, some are looking to add to the regulatory burden and put us further behind.”
The Governor concluded his remarks by reaffirming his belief that the vast majority of Vermonters, and most lawmakers in both parties, agree regulatory reform is needed to address our housing crisis. He called on them to make their voices heard.
A full transcript of the Governor’s remarks can be found below.
GOVERNOR SCOTT: Good afternoon and thanks for being here today.
We’re now over a month into the session, about a quarter of the way towards adjournment.
We had a good start with almost everyone in the building making it clear housing would be a top priority.
After spending historic amounts over the past few years and still seeing a lack of housing in every county there seems to be an understanding outside this building and I believe in it as well, that it’s time to focus on the regulatory side of the equation.
We need to make it less expensive, faster, and easier to build or renovate the housing we desperately need.
That way the investments we’ve made will go farther but more importantly incentivize the private sector, who actually build much more housing than State Government, to invest and build more.
On January 10th, I stood here with a tripartisan group of lawmakers and stakeholders to outline good, solid proposals that had wide support and I felt good about the odds of passing something meaningful.
But one month into the session, I’m not as confident as I was that day.
It appears, in some committees, they’re moving in the opposite direction.
Instead of prioritizing how to produce more homes, which would address all kinds of issues like workforce, healthcare, property taxes, education, and more, some are looking to add to the regulatory burden and put us further behind.
For example, House Energy and Environment is currently moving forward with a bill that in my opinion would be an economic disaster.
And Senate Natural’s S.213 looks similar, creating new definitions, significantly expanding requirements, and shifting responsibilities for certain types of land use regulation from Vermont municipalities to ANR that will put Vermonters in jeopardy of violating laws they don’t even know exist.
As proposed, H.687 would also dramatically expand Act 250 jurisdiction statewide.
While it does include some Act 250 exemptions, they’re narrow, stringent, and geographically limited, making nearly the entire state subject to Act 250.
As most of us know, we have a housing crisis in all of Vermont, not just in our cities.
Leaving rural Vermont out of our housing strategy is far from strategic, fair, or acceptable.
And to be clear, I’m not proposing we build on our mountaintops, develop forest land, or create sprawl.
Our housing package focuses on designated areas within rural communities.
To make my point, let me show you a couple of maps.
Here is what currently triggers automatic Act 250 jurisdiction.
And here’s what would happen under the House proposal.
As you can see by the areas indicated in red, orange, and yellow, Act 250 would be automatically extended to over 90% of the state’s land area which would now be considered “critical resource areas.”
That means if you want to build a single-family home, or maybe even a garden shed, you’ll need to go through Act 250 which we know adds costs and time.
Under the House proposal, Act 250 jurisdiction would also be triggered if a proposed project was setback more than 500 feet from an existing road or was part of a subdivision with more than four units.
Put another way, as currently drafted, H.687 would render more than 90% of the state subject to automatic Act 250 jurisdiction.
For perspective, currently, less than 15% of the Vermont landscape falls under automatic Act 250 jurisdiction.
I think most Vermonters would find this new bill totally unacceptable and hamper, not help, solve our housing crisis.
***
As I said at the beginning of the session, the depth of the crisis we face demands bold action, but this “bold action” isn’t what I had in mind. And actually, moves us in the wrong direction.
So, I want to be clear, I won’t accept a housing bill that fails to meet the moment.
Taking one step forward and one step back won’t cut it.
Taking two steps forwards and one back won’t cut it.
We must jumpstart housing in all communities. Period.
That’s going to take all the creative approaches in H.719, including changes to Act 250, local zoning, appeals, and tax incentives for those who want to invest in communities.
Here’s the bottom line. We can’t water this package down and expect to address our housing shortage.
***
I’ve been around this building long enough to know how this works and that’s why I called it out in my State of the State and Budget Address.
We cannot let a couple special interests and a couple committees block the progress we need to make.
And I’m confident the vast majority of Vermonters agree with me.
But I also think most legislators of both parties do, too.
The folks back home elected you to solve problems, not create them.
Just because you’re not on the committee dealing directly with this issue doesn’t mean you can’t make your voice heard.
Because the reality is housing impacts many issues in other committees, from homelessness and healthcare to public safety and resiliency to education and workforce.
So, let’s make progress on housing that we so desperately need to help our communities.
Categories: Press Release
When the Governor speaks, it rings familar to this timeless tale:
“So off went the Emperor in procession under his splendid canopy. Everyone in the streets and the windows said, “Oh, how fine are the Emperor’s new clothes! Don’t they fit him to perfection? And see his long train!” Nobody would confess that he couldn’t see anything, for that would prove him either unfit for his position, or a fool. No costume the Emperor had worn before was ever such a complete success.
“But he hasn’t got anything on,” a little child said.
“Did you ever hear such innocent prattle?” said its father. And one person whispered to another what the child had said, “He hasn’t anything on. A child says he hasn’t anything on.”
“But he hasn’t got anything on!” the whole town cried out at last.
The Emperor shivered, for he suspected they were right. But he thought, “This procession has got to go on.” So he walked more proudly than ever, as his noblemen held high the train that wasn’t there at all”
“When a leader surrounds himself with “yes” men, it often leads to absurd and embarrassing results. It is far better to surround oneself with honest people who are unafraid to ask questions or to point out deficiencies as they see them.”
In our community we have nearly 60% non resident owners. We are not a tourist town. These are not rentals. These are big bloated summer homes that are turning into shacks as a great many are not being properly maintained. Add insult to injury these owners pay a much lower tax rate than we do and us residents have to make up the shortfall. So I don’t care how many new homes you build till you address the root of this problem we are going to have a housing shortage.
Correction: People who own second homes in VT pay a HIGHER tax rate to the state, not a lower one. Further, Americans can & do own second homes in every state across the nation from ME. to Hawaii – second home ownership is NOT exclusive to VT. Owning a second home in VT does not create a “housing crisis” but rather aids state revenue, as does tourism. Most second homes in VT are not in a state of deterioration.
It is very likely however that your local “representatives” of your town are still liberally utilizing the once ever-so-popular “us vs. them” premise to alleviate their culpability in creating this faux “housing crisis” THEMSELVES by chronically ushering into VT destitute illegal aliens thru this insane “open border” policy, annually requesting “migrants” from sub-Saharan Africa (500 into VT for 2024!), & mostly out-of-state homeless afflicted with drug addictions & mental health illnesses & very liberal social welfare programs!!!
THOSE are the reasons for some supposed lack of “affordable” housing that your representatives liberally banter about – NOT the law-abiding families from NJ or CT who pay more than their fair share taxes here, use few of our public services, & obey the law. You are being PLAYED!
This is not the first time the good guv’ners warnings have been ignored by legislators. It almost seems a challenge to the arrogant left super majority- whatever phil scott says, we will go three steps harder left…
An adolescent “I’ll show you” attitude from those emboldened legislators.
Absolutely none of this ends well, as the moderate, centrist and soft spoken scott’s
warnings go unheard by both legislator and more importantly- the voter.
Vermont’s uninformed and apathetic voters are the root cause of our current problems- from energy to housing to healthcare, we have allowed our voices and constitutional rights to be subjugated- barely realizing what has occurred.
Governor Scott:
A housing bill that “meets the moment” is indeed this very moment in time that has been specifically created & advanced by you, your Communist comrades in D.C., & all their “fellow travelers” in Montpelier by intentionally opening our sovereign nation’s borders to usher in millions of impoverished unknowns who now require full & likely permanent social welfare services – including housing.
A housing bill that bolsters your open-borders policy spawned by a radicalized movement that advances the “new global order” where all the citizens shall be “equitably” miserable, own nothing, and have every facet of life dictated to them by the power-mongering elitist monarchs of this new regime.
A housing bill that addresses this “housing crisis” that never existed even a decade ago in Vermont & was never extant over the long course of this state’s history since 1791, is now a man-made crisis caused directly by you & your politicos’ in your attempts to abolish self-governance, install this nanny state, and advance your own personal positions of power & authority over a once-free people living a free life within a Constitutional Republic.
The housing crisis that YOU created & fed is further augmented by the reckless policies instituted during the Covid19 lockdowns that YOU implemented which invited & encouraged thousands of mostly drug-addicted “homeless” to claim VT residency in order to avail themselves of your fiscally freewheeling motel housing program. Your “migrant resettlement” program that plucks yet more indigent peoples from the African & South/Central Asian Continents to reside in VT which you & yours insist upon propagating merely further exacerbates this “housing crisis” within “this moment” that you ALONE have created.
Stop the phony “housing crisis” propaganda! Stop expecting average Vermonters to pay for your endless social welfare programs! Stop the Communist take-over of Vermont & the USA! Stop placing the problems of foreigners over & above the needs of Vermont citizens which you are legally obligated to serve!
Stop electing these Leninists to your hallowed halls in Montpelier!
So here we go, being played again by both sides. Neither of these solutions solve our problems, BOTH of these solutions are part of Agenda 21, Agenda 2030….so we all lose.
They are doing this across the state, giving us two crappy examples, and we get to choose one of the crappy examples. Then when the public goes to the meetings and voice and different change, then when they vote it out in 3 votes outside of town meeting, what do the do? They raise the standard in which the public can petition, from 5% of the vote to 10% of the vote. We know this by experience.
We could solve all our housing issues in 6 months to one year. But here is the problem, it doesn’t grease the wheels of all the grifters involved in the housing scam of the century. It doesn’t fill the coffers with renters living off the state dole of $60k per year renting a crappy room.
When we allow the Governor and the legislature to pump this crap out without any questioning, we ourselves are promoting propaganda. IF the PRESS doesn’t ask hard questions, there is no sunlight. Droves of commentators won’t make a difference. A few reporters WILL MAKE A HUGE DIFFERENCE.
They want – rental housing you will never own, in the town centers which are typically in flood plains and are poor for development. This is agenda 21. This is the housing that Bernie Sanders brought from Russia.
This is why Vermont is so unaffordable, we have unrealistically high rents, propped up by the state subsidizing all the renters, all the builders, all the loans…..and no modest homes are being built.
Pimpin’ for the NWO….both sides of the aisle….we are being lied to and sold out.
we must have more bonding of debt/// we are not the federal reserve that can print money/// a lot of money laundering in buying bonds/// we are vermont strong/// ask the governor
Never understood the higher property tax for nonresident owners. Is this just a spite tax? Should they sell the home to locals and let the tax income go down? What services are these people using more so than others? Spite tax, that’s all it is.
It is not a ‘spite tax’. The system became convoluted and expensive once the state got control of it, thru the “education” portion. Below are the 2022 rates for South Burlington:
Tax Rate for the 2022/2023 year:
Municipal Tax Rate: $0.4660
Homestead Education Tax Rate: $1.2953
Non-Homestead Education Tax Rate: $1.4516
Total Homestead Property Tax Rate: $1.7616
Total Non-Homestead Property Tax Rate: $1.9176
The Non- Homestead rate is assessed on property that is not a homestead- ie; commercial, industrial, retail properties and second homes. VT residents must file a homestead declaration form, HS-122 each year for their primary residence. No HS-122? No problem, you’ll pay the non homestead rate. Oh yeah, if you qualify for a Property Tax credit, be sure to file Schedule HI-144.
Out of State second homeowners are treated poorly, the same as everyone else, equity for all, eh?
Clear as Mud?
but this is what they want you to see, this is what they want the non-resident tax to “look” like.
In reality the residential is much lower, as it’s based upon income. but nobody ever gets to see that because you can’t, it’s hidden.
so people can vote for all sorts of things……..that they aren’t paying for, so our taxes keep going up. It’s the middle class squeeze.
but Burlington and other towns that have not done a reassessment for 15 years, and are still not caught up with current values……are getting a free ride. Another major driver of huge expenses in our state being driven by people who aren’t paying.
What town would pay $60k per year to house a homeless person, in a cheap hotel room? You’d see instant tar and feathering. Yet our state has been doing it for YEARS…..thank you burlington…
Who get’s state subsidized rent when you earn way more than the average employee……….burlingtonians….
We are getting fleeced.
South Burlington “stole” money from the education funds with all their tiff projects….and more coming down the pike.
Grifters gonna grift.
Thank you. I’m not why this poster states what they do frequently, but as I wrote above, I believe it is that small town legislators, years ago, used to pit “born n’ raised” against second homeowners to intentionally create friction & many Vermonters bought into it. The whole point of the game was to get neighbors to hold animus for one another while their “representatives” hiked everyone’s taxes & began the systematic destruction of VT.
I recall still one night at a town meeting in the mid 2000’s or so and folks were complaining about a gas tax having gone through & Bill Botzow (D) Pownal/Woodford – smoothed it all over by claiming that the state was merely puttin’ the screws to second homeowners & tourists (tourists too, no less were given a bullseye) who were “damaging” the roads with all their auto traffic. (Get this: Botzow was originally from the NYC area himself – a severe trust fund baby). Well, the “native” VT’ers bought it hook, line, & sinker……and went forward happily to buy their expensive gas and pay the tax too. He pulled it all the time & appeased them all the time. I bet it still goes on in the smaller towns. Condemnable.
tiff programs/// public private partners/// insider dealing/// tax payer ripoff/// stole the education funds/// now they need more taxes///
So Vermont’s homelessness is a concern to all, but how many are Vermonters born & raised or are they just transients looking for the fruits of hard working Vermonter’s because of liberal bleeding heart handout nonsense………………sad but true !!
Help your neighbors & friends, transients not so much, I work hard for my money and they should also, I’ll hand out to whom I want, not some bureaucrats agenda.
Thank yo CHenry for saying what I’ve been saying since last June. We don’t have a housing shortage. We have an influx of vagrants.
You all need to look at the demographics of just who is homeless.
Those with mental health and addiction issues who live in Vermont ARE among those struggling to stay safely under a roof in winter, when its most crucial.
BUT…the highest homelessness is experienced amongst families, and individuals… and this in 2018. The TOTAL, as of that date, experiencing homelessness during that year, was just over 1000.
That does not mean they were homeless for the whole year.
The chronically homeless need to be dealt with, but again, a myriad of reasons they ended up that way means there is no ‘one solution for all’ such as…building new housing. We immediately get into graft when construction and government subsidies and contracts are available.
A 20 foot yurt costs 10k.
A 22 foot tiny house costs 40k.
A 1 bedroom house costs:
A fourplex costs: to build (no idea but its way more)
So IF we get our heads out of our nether regions, maybe we can think about HELPING instead making money off of homelessness.
I know: crickets.