The House took up the Senate’s housing bill this week starting in the House General and Housing Committee. The committee will not be reviewing any provisions related to municipal zoning and Act 250 and will instead focus on housing-specific programs. This would mean a review of changes to state and municipal bylaws will be done in the House Energy and Environment Committee, which historically has been reluctant to address Act 250 barriers. The Vermont Chamber continues to be a leader on the need for bold leadership to reduce barriers to the creation of housing. 

Megan Sullivan, VP of Government Affairs for the Vermont Chamber presented to the Rural Caucus, advocating for solutions that make balanced reforms to state and local regulations and alleviate zoning barriers. Additionally, Kevin Chu, Executive Director of the Vermont Futures Project, presented at a Social Equity Caucus on Vermont’s demographic challenges and the role of housing in ensuring an economically secure, sustainable, and equitable future for Vermont.  

Despite housing being the single most important issue this session for every constituency in the state, Senators have bypassed the opportunity to make legislation that is strong enough to make meaningful progress to solving the crisis. S.100 passed the Senate following a week of intense work by lobbyists to vote down an amendment offered by Senator Thomas Chittenden (D-Chittenden Southeast) that would call for more housing to be built. Despite a strong fight by several legislators, as stated by Senator Ann Cummings (D-Washington), legislators are left “living in a fantasy world if we think anything we are doing is going to solve the housing crisis.” Senator Randy Brock (R-Franklin) agreed with the sentiment, stating that legislators are saying “the house is on fire and we’re arguing about whether the fire truck should go 30 mph or 35 mph.”

Senator Chittenden’s amendment would have reinstated some of the important balance in reforms to state and local regulatory and zoning barriers that were crafted by the Senate Economic Development, Housing, and General Affairs Committee. Minor adjustments would make an important difference in the number of units of middle-income housing that developers can build to help alleviate Vermont’s housing crisis. Ultimately, the amendment was voted down on party lines.

Key Senate committees have reached what is being touted as a grand bargain on S.100. However, even following tweaks to attempt to align the priorities of the Senate Economic Development, Housing, and General Affairs Committee with the Senate Natural Resources Committee, the changes made by the latter minimize the effects of measures that would increase workforce housing. The bill now perpetuates the idea that the Vermont quality of life is available, but only within certain parameters. At a time when Vermont’s workforce is dwindling, this is unacceptable. To address this, Senator Thomas Chittenden (Chittenden-Southeast) is offering a crucial amendment that will be considered when the bill comes to the Senate for a vote next week. It’s time for legislators who have committed to addressing housing as the top issue this session to step up and revive this crucial legislation. We encourage businesses to reach out to their Senators to support this critical amendment to build more housing for all and follow through on their commitment to voters.  

Without breaking down barriers to development, living and working in Vermont will remain available only to wealthy individuals. Questions remain on how, and if, this bill will meet the demand for workforce housing. Commitments to welcoming new and diverse populations to Vermont are hollow without meaningful policy. The HOME bill stands for “housing opportunities made for everyone.” 

As expected, the Senate Natural Resources Committee amended essential solutions from S.100, altering major components of the bill that were thoughtfully crafted in the Senate Economic Development Committee to  address workforce housing needs by breaking down regulatory barriers. The HOME bill stands for “housing opportunities made for everyone” but the legislation no longer lives up to its name. Due to the changes made by the Senate Natural Resources Committee, the delicate coalition that supported the bill as passed by the Senate Economic Development Committee is no longer sound. This leaves questions on how, and if, Senators will step up next week to further amend the bill and act on what was voiced as the number one priority of the session by legislators. 

The version of the bill passed by the Senate Natural Resources Committee minimized the effect of a measure that would increase the Act 250 review process threshold from 10 units within five years in a five-mile radius to 25 units, by further fencing in where it can be applied and placing a sunset on the policy in 2026. A three-year sunset on a 5-year provision would be unworkable for developers. Amendments also instate duplicative wastewater permitting, a measure that wastes both time and money. Additionally, the committee added a measure that would reinstate the ability of individuals in a community to derail housing development in their communities. These measures mean the bill no longer rises to meet the need to create the more than 35,000-45,000 required units of housing by 2050, undercutting the work of the Senate Natural Resources Committee.  

S.100, the ‘HOME’ bill, was voted out of the Senate Economic Development Committee last week and could make meaningful progress to address business housing concerns. However, the legislation is now in the Senate Natural Resources Committee and essential zoning reform elements are at risk of being stripped from the bill. Please contact your Senator to urge them to support the HOME bill as passed by Senate Economic Development Committee. 

Despite widespread support from legislators across political parties, the legislation is being met with significant opposition from conservationists. Ninety-eight municipalities have adopted a Declaration of Inclusion, an initiative with the intent to attract people to Vermont to live, work and raise families in a state that values and encourages diversity in its population. But, when it comes to building housing for new community members, state and local regulatory processes are used to derail housing opportunities, and Vermonters in these same cities and towns are discouraging development.  

In December, the Vermont Chamber hosted a business roundtable with Senator Ram Hinsdale on the need to make housing the top priority this session. As Chair of the committee tasked with crafting a housing omnibus bill, Ram Hinsdale has since championed the needs of businesses. Over the last eight weeks, the committee took testimony from over 100 Vermonters to craft a bill that would make meaningful progress on Vermont’s housing crisis. The Committee unanimously voted out S.100, the “HOME” bill, which thoughtfully addresses many of the areas that the Vermont Chamber has advocating for. However, the bill is now expected to have an uphill battle in the Senate Natural Resources Committee, which has historically opposed removing the barriers that exist to building housing.  

In an op-ed earlier this session, the Vermont Chamber advocated for legislative action in four areas. Highlights of S.100 are categorized into each of these areas: 

Breaking down Barriers 

• Limits municipal regulations on issues like parking, single-family zoning, ADUs, number of units per acre, height limitations. 
• Removes the ability for 10 people to appeal a decision of the municipal administrative officer. 
• Allows municipal administrative offices to approve subdivisions. 
• Removes the character of an area as a subject of an appeal. 
• Increases the trigger for Act 250 from 10 units in 5 years, within 5 miles, to 25 units in 5 years, within 5 miles in a designated area. 

Strategic Investment 

• $20 million for the Missing Middle Income Homeownership Program 
• $20 million for the Middle-Income Rental Housing Program 
• $20 million for the Vermont Rental Housing Improvement Program 
• $25 million for the Vermont Housing and Conservation Board 

Public Private Partnership 

• Creates opportunities for employers to invest in workforce housing developments through the Middle-Income Rental Housing program. 

Collects Data 

• Does not contain a rental registry. 
• Instructs auditors from the State Office of the Auditor or a third-party auditing firm to conduct an audit of the residential housing development and approval process and identify measures and policy changes that will improve the timeliness of residential housing development. 

The Senate Appropriations Committee amended the Budget Adjustment Act to include $14 million of funding from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) and the general fund for the Missing Middle-Income Homeownership Development Pilot Program. The Vermont Chamber’s advocacy was essential to the establishment of the program and is a champion for solutions that increase the number of housing units statewide as a solution workforce shortage solution.  

This funding allocates $5 million of ARPA funding for FY22, $10 million of ARPA funding for FY23, and $9 million of general funding for FY23. Additional investments championed by Vermont Chamber that received funding were the Rural Infrastructure Assistance Program, Vermont Housing Improvement Program, and The State Refugee Office.

The demand for housing continues to be met with opposition from community and environmental advocates that want to discourage development and are denying housing opportunities to others. Kevin Chu of the Vermont Futures Project, Evan Langfeldt of O’Brien Brothers and former Vermont Chamber board member, and WeiWei Wang of the Vermont Professionals of Color Network all provided expert testimony on the need for the creation of more housing to ensure more people of all backgrounds can live, and work, in Vermont. While many of the policy areas outlined by the Vermont Chamber are been addressed through proposals in the Omnibus Housing Bill, equity remains central to the Vermont Chamber’s work to help shape this legislation. 

Chu, of the Vermont Futures Project, testified that Vermont needs more people, and more people need Vermont. He detailed the immediate need for the creation of more housing to ensure population growth can keep up with workforce demands, and that for an economically secure, sustainable, and equitable future, Vermont needs more people of diverse backgrounds to be able to move here. Langfeldt testified on the underlying reasons for rising housing costs and the lack of inventory and proposed opportunities for solutions that meet demand while addressing climate goals. Wang, of the Vermont Professionals of Color Network, also testified in support of strategic investments to create statewide housing opportunities and the need to address the homeownership gap for the fast-growing, but historically marginalized, BIPOC community in Vermont. 

The Vermont Chamber is collecting stories of businesses that have lost employees or prospective employees because of housing. If you are an employer who has experienced this, please complete this brief survey.