Successful leadership on housing displayed by the Rural Caucus and Speaker Jill Krowinski culminated with the House Environment & Energy Committee passing an amendment to the HOME bill with a vote of 11-0-0. The amendment incorporates many aspects of the Rural Caucus amendment advocated for by the Vermont Chamber. This includes increasing the Act 250 jurisdictional threshold increase for housing units from 10 to 25 units in downtowns, neighborhood development areas, growth centers, and village centers. With paid family and medical leave off the table this session, the Vermont Chamber is now working to secure any newly available funds for the Revolving Loan Fund to allow employers to invest in housing solutions for their workers. 

While the bill does not meet the full potential of what was originally passed out of the Senate Economic Development, Housing, and General Affairs Committee, the version now up for a vote on the House Floor exceeds the version that was previously passed out of the Senate. Additional amendments to the bill are expected to be debated on the House floor next week and further conversation on Act 250 modernization is set to take place next session. 

Amendments to the bill achieve the following: 

• Permits the Department of Housing and Community Development to use up to 20% of municipal planning funds to help towns meet neighborhood development area requirements.  
• Adds a Regional Planning Report that requires the Vermont Association of Planning and Development Agencies to study improving coordination between municipal, regional, and state planning. 
• Tasks the Natural Resources Board with determining what is required to create a municipal delegation process. 
• Includes a Rural Recovery Council to strengthen coordination in rural economic development, housing resource navigators to work with local organizations and private developers, and a directive to eliminate redundancies in state permitting requirements. 
• Returns the number of people who can appeal a municipal zoning permit from 1 to 10.  

The omnibus housing legislation is entitled the “HOME” bill, which stands for housing opportunities made for everyone. However, S.100 is currently in the House Environment and Energy Committee, where there are some efforts to do the opposite and restrict the ability to develop housing while others fight to keep their promises to constituents. The Vermont Chamber continues to advocate for an amendment put forward by the Rural Caucus, which would expand exemptions, an important compromise with those who are opposed to any change at all. Before the start of the session, the Speaker of the House Jill Krowinski stated that “housing, housing, housing” was at the top of her priority list. It remains to be seen if legislation coming out of the House will rise to meet the overwhelming demand for workforce housing. 

In written testimony submitted to the House Energy and Environment Committee, the Vermont Chamber explained that the amendment would make responsible and reasonable amendments to Act 250 thresholds and address capacity issues as they relate to housing to support the development of housing in every county of Vermont. S.100 does include important steps to address local zoning and regulatory barriers to create a continuum of workforce housing opportunities. 

Many legislators in the House appear committed to promises made on the campaign trail to prioritize meaningful action on housing. In particular, a group of legislators in the House General and Housing Committee stood up for their constituents in response to House leadership giving sole jurisdiction on land use, zoning, and Act 250 to the House Energy and Environment Committee. A heated debate on committee jurisdiction ensued, with several committee members concerned that politics is hindering good policy. 

Legislators such as Reps. Caleb Elder (Addison-4), Ashley Bartley (Franklin-1), and Saudia LaMont (Lamoille-Washington), fought for the opportunity to have important discussions about regulations that are deeply impacting Vermont’s Housing crisis. Several of these same regulations were supported by the Senate Economic Development, Housing, and General Affairs Committee before being altered by the Senate Natural Resources Committee. 

While no action was taken on Act 250, the bill as passed out of the committee does support several programs the Vermont Chamber has advocated for, including the Vermont Housing Improvement Program, the Revolving Loan Fund, and the Missing Middle-Income Homeownership Development Program. The committee ultimately passed the bill out of committee 8-4. The bill will now officially be taken up by the House Energy and Environment Committee to review the bill sections dealing directly with Act 250 and zoning.  

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.