This commentary is by Rep. Marc Mihaly, D-Calais. He is chair of the House General and Housing Committee.
It’s no secret that we have a housing emergency in this state — there’s not enough housing and what’s available is beyond the reach of most Vermonters. Our efforts to address this crisis have only just begun.
The absence of affordable housing makes it hard for businesses, schools and local governments — well, just about everyone — to find and keep new employees. It contributes to our homeless problem. Young people and families can’t move to Vermont. This creates a ripple effect that exacerbates the cost of our health insurance and our property taxes that pay for education.
As the chair of the Vermont House of Representatives committee that works on housing issues, I spend my days (and my nights) thinking about this problem.
While addressing our housing needs is daunting, I am encouraged by the progress we’ve already made. Last session, we passed a bill that addresses many key housing issues that the governor signed. The bill was the result of testimony from people across every sector, state agency, trade, alliance and industry that is engaged in housing. It was heard at hearings over the course of more than two months.
No one bill can solve the housing problem and certainly not all at once, but this law makes a modest start. The law:
- makes it easier to finance housing and related infrastructure;
- provides funding to develop housing that lower income and middle-income Vermonters can afford to rent and buy;
- provides for studies to enable us to legislate promotion of prefabricated modular housing;
- includes assistance to mobile home parks and owners; and
- creates opportunities to acquire and rebuild abandoned and dilapidated housing.
But, and it’s a big “but,” we’ve just started. There’s so much yet to be done. The shortage of truly affordable housing stymies our chance at serious economic growth, so we’ve got to act and do so quickly.
Success requires that we work on several fronts. We need to find more ways to fund housing. The market is broken; it costs double what Vermonters can afford to produce a house or apartment.
Developers are hesitant to build because they can’t produce a house or apartment at a price the average Vermonter can afford. We need to work creatively to find more public and private capital to assist in reducing the price of new houses and apartments.
We don’t just have a money problem; we have a workforce challenge. We must help swell the ranks of the building trades. Only with more carpenters, electricians, plumbers, and heating and ventilating contractors, will we be able to build the housing we need.
As it stands now, even if we found the money to make housing affordable, we don’t currently have enough people to build the units Vermonters need. We must fund and implement training programs and encourage young Vermonters to join the building trades.
These efforts are only the start of what we have to do. This legislative session, we will also look at:
- Ways to address permit reform to make it easier to get government permission to build homes and apartments, and more difficult for a few opponents to draw out appeals of permits for years when there’s no good reason for the opposition.
- How to make it easier for towns to turn abandoned homes into real housing.
- Addressing the short-term rental proliferation in a way that both respects local conditions but ensures we keep our housing stock primarily for long-term occupancy by Vermonters.
- Find ways to make it easier and cheaper to buy and own mobile homes, the least expensive housing in Vermont.
- Find ways, as difficult as it might be, to make it attractive to be a landlord in Vermont while ensuring that tenants have true security.
The legislature is ready to take on these issues. I’m encouraged that the governor signed our first bill and has made statements that indicate he cares about housing. But words, whether from the Legislature or the governor, aren’t enough.
We have our work cut out for us, but we are determined to keep pushing for solutions to our housing crisis.