A Burlington tenant and housing advocate told the House General and Housing Committee February 19 she has experienced four no-cause evictions since 2022, and urged the lawmakers to pass stronger tenant protections.
At the same meeting, a Rockingham landlord described the financial and other challenges of his occupation – including tenants who won’t pay rent.
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 by the Committee.
Tenant’s Experience with Housing Insecurity
Nora Aronds, a tenant representative, shared her personal experiences with housing insecurity in Vermont. Aronds has lived in seven different apartments in Burlington over the past nine years and has been subjected to four no-cause terminations of her lease since 2022.
Aronds emphasized the stress and difficulty of finding safe and stable housing, especially with Vermont’s low rental vacancy rate.
She advocated for stronger tenant protections, such as statewide just cause eviction legislation and a rental registry.
Aronds also works at a local housing nonprofit, assisting families facing housing crises.
Aronds also spoke to an experience where a landlord stopped by with prospective tenants to tour her apartment without prior notice, even though she had expressed interest in renewing her lease. She also noted that research indicates that many evictions go unrecorded. According to Aronds, for every eviction that goes through the courts, up to 5.5 do not get recorded, but she clarified that this statistic came from a Princeton University study conducted in New York.
Landlord’s Perspective on Providing Housing
John Dunbar, a housing provider from Rockingham, testified about the financial realities and challenges faced by small-scale landlords in Vermont. Dunbar and his brother took over their parents’ duplexes in Bellows Falls in 2014 and have since become increasingly involved in providing housing.
Dunbar emphasized the importance of local, community-minded landlords and the need to support them.
He shared financial data illustrating the costs of updating and maintaining rental properties, including challenges such as lead paint, old plumbing, and weatherization.
Dunbar also raised concerns about tenants who fail to pay rent and the difficulties of the eviction process. He described a situation where a tenant had not paid rent for several months, impacting the property owner’s income.
Dunbar questioned the committee about what recourse a landlord has to obtain payment without incurring significant losses through legal eviction processes. He also asked about the availability of rental relief programs for both non-compliant tenants and landlords.
Dunbar noted that his brother moved his home improvement business to New Hampshire due to more favorable tax regulations and was considering selling his Vermont rental units because he felt the state was more supportive of tenants than landlords.
This report was sourced from the GoldenDomeVT transcript of the Feb. 19 meeting, rewritten by AI, then edited by VDC staff.