Housing advocates ask for $175 million to build homes 

By Fred Thys/VTDigger

Vermont’s affordable housing advocates kicked off an expected legislative debate over the state’s housing crisis earlier this month by putting a $175 million price tag on what they say it will take next year for Vermont to build the homes needed to keep and retain workers.

“We’re seeing employers really struggling to get employees because there are no places for people to live,” said Elizabeth Bridgewater, executive director of Windham & Windsor Housing Trust, one of the nonprofit organizations making the request.

The ask comes weeks before the start of the legislative session and more than a month before Gov. Phil Scott rolls out his budget proposal for the next fiscal year.

Housing is a priority for Vermont lawmakers. “Everyone I have talked to in the Legislature is hearing this as their No. 1 priority from their constituents,” said Sen. Kesha Ram Hinsdale, D-Chittenden.

Ram Hinsdale, who is expected to play a leadership role on the Senate Committee on Economic Development, Housing and General Affairs in the next session, cautioned that requests to fund housing will have to be balanced with other investments. She also said that creating more housing will require more than additional funding.

The Legislature appropriated roughly $370 million to address housing over the past three years, much of it the result of an influx of federal funding in the Covid-19 era.

“This is a problem that needs money, but it also needs red tape removed so that we are not putting money toward lawsuits and low density,” Ram Hinsdale said.

The senator said she hopes that advocates for the environment will recognize that dense housing reduces carbon emissions. “Building single-family homes is just not ideal for tackling our environmental issues because that takes over more green space and reduces the density that we need to deal with transportation issues,” Ram Hinsdale said. When housing projects go forward, permitting and zoning hurdles often end up reducing the density of housing, she added.

Housing is also the top priority for business.

“Top of the list is housing,” said Austin Davis, a lobbyist for the Lake Champlain Chamber of Commerce. “Everything leads back to housing. Even asking folks who work in housing what they need to build housing, they’ll tell you, housing.”

The Vermont Chamber of Commerce, too, is prioritizing the creation of more housing.

“Together, the workforce and housing shortages are the greatest threat to the Vermont economy,” said Megan Sullivan, a lobbyist for the Vermont Chamber. “With employers seeking talent that spans from recent graduates to seasoned professionals, all of whom are essential workers, we must prioritize the creation and rehabilitation of housing for all working Vermonters.”

In a press release, the housing organizations said Vermont is starting to see the benefit of the significant state and federal resources allocated to housing in recent years. They point to the 2,800 households experiencing homelessness that have been moved to permanent housing and the 1,000 homes that are expected to be completed or are under construction this year.

“We have accomplished a lot with the historic funding that we received through the pandemic and the housing bond,” said Bridgewater, noting that her organization is developing 137 housing units in Windham and Windsor counties, including two projects in Brattleboro and others in Guilford, Putney, Bellows Falls and Windsor. She added that private landlords are also rehabilitating buildings to offer additional housing in the two counties.

But the organizations say Vermont will need 10,000 housing units over the next five years, with half of them needing to be affordable for the state’s essential workers.

Bridgewater said one of the biggest challenges her organization faces in building enough affordable housing units is the rising cost of construction.

The organizations are asking the Legislature to tap into remaining federal funds available from the American Rescue Plan Act and other potential sources to provide $175 million in next year’s budget for the Vermont Housing and Conservation Board, the Department of Housing and Community Development and the Vermont Housing Finance Agency.

“We obviously have another year of a substantial budget surplus,” said Rep. Tom Stevens, D-Waterbury, who chairs the House Committee on General, Housing and Military Affairs. Stevens anticipates that some of the $175 million could come from that surplus, as well as from appropriating the entire property transfer tax to the Housing and Conservation Trust Fund. Stevens said there may be additional federal funding available.

The housing advocates propose that the funds go toward apartment projects, rehabilitation of existing housing, incentives to home buyers, help for manufactured home communities, conversion of nonresidential buildings into housing, encouragement of housing in town centers and housing and shelters for families experiencing homelessness.

A dozen housing organizations, representing nearly the entire state, signed on to the request.