A wide-ranging housing plan unveiled by Republican Gov. Phil Scott last month is now making its way through the legislative process, but it鈥檚 unclear how much of that proposal Democratic lawmakers will be willing to advance.
Scott wants to create financing tools for municipal infrastructure, make it harder for neighbors to appeal housing projects and lower regulatory barriers to new development.
In this week鈥檚 edition of the Capitol Recap, 开云体育 Statehouse reporter Peter Hirschfeld spoke with Report for America corps member and housing reporter Carly Berlin to find out what Scott is asking for, and why some lawmakers aren鈥檛 entirely on board. This interview was produced for the ear. We highly recommend listening to the audio. We鈥檝e also provided a transcript, which has been edited for length and clarity.
Peter Hirschfeld: Carly, housing, or lack thereof, is obviously a huge issue for Vermonters right now and something Phil Scott came into this session saying he was going to be seeking major action on. He鈥檚 since unveiled his omnibus housing package to lawmakers. Big picture 鈥� make it understandable for those of us that aren鈥檛 following this issue as closely as you are 鈥� what is the governor asking lawmakers to do?
Carly Berlin: A couple key things in this big package 鈥� the governor wants to make it easier for smaller towns to build the infrastructure that鈥檚 needed for new housing. So think sewer systems, water lines, roads. Those things, they often fall to the developer to do, and that adds costs to housing. So they want funding, financing tools for that piece.
The administration also wants to take on appeals for new housing. So think of, if a new housing project is going up next to you, you don鈥檛 like it, and you want to take the developer to court 鈥� the administration wants make that harder, make those challenges to new housing more difficult.
And then the administration also wants to reopen Act 181, which was this big Act 250 reform bill that passed last year that basically tried to ease Act 250鈥檚 reach in some already developed places, to make it easier to develop housing, strengthen environmental regulations in other places. The administration doesn鈥檛 feel like that balance was quite right, so Scott wants to see some of the environmental rules stepped back a little bit and tip the scales more towards housing.
Peter Hirschfeld: So, funding for the infrastructure we need for housing, address the NIMBY issue and more Act 250 reform 鈥� how is this landing with Democratic lawmakers so far?
Carly Berlin: On the Act 250 piece, in particular, there鈥檚 a real feeling among lawmakers that to get this big reform bill through last year took so much negotiating 鈥� it was a "grand bargain," that鈥檚 the term that I keep hearing over and over again. So there鈥檚 a real hesitancy around reopening that can of worms this year, so we鈥檒l have to see if lawmakers end up having the appetite for that.
On the appeals piece, I think there鈥檚 interest among legislators in kind of tackling these drawn-out court challenges that happen. But there was also a study to look at how to change appeals in Act 181 last year, so I鈥檓 also hearing, "Let鈥檚 wait and see what the study tells us. Let鈥檚 maybe not go too far down that road this year."
Peter Hirschfeld: Phil Scott is obviously not the only elected official that has made hosing a priority. Democratic lawmakers came into the session too saying, "Hey, this is at the top of our list." Any big proposals that we鈥檝e seen so far from the House or Senate related to this?
Carly Berlin: Not really. Both the House and Senate committees responsible for housing have been looking at the governor鈥檚 package and coming up with committee bills in reaction to it. But we haven鈥檛 really seen them come out and say, "Here鈥檚 our list of priorities this year."
A couple weeks ago, House Democrats had a press conference about their housing agenda. And they spent most of the time talking about things that they鈥檇 done already. And so I asked them, "OK, that's great. What comes next?" And they didn鈥檛 really have a clear set of policy goals in front of them. And I鈥檒l be curious to see if that emerges.
Peter Hirschfeld: Phil Scott is making the hard case that land-use regulations are the thing that is holding back construction of affordable housing in this state. Is that theory borne out by data and analysis? Can we have any certainty or confidence that if we do the things Phil Scott is telling us to do, we鈥檙e going to see more housing as a result?
Carly Berlin: We don鈥檛 have a ton of great data and analysis on this in Vermont. I will say that this bill, Act 181, from last year, had some temporary exemptions for new housing. And I had a story out before the turn of the year that showed, actually, a lot of developers have perked up their ears. And they鈥檙e starting to work on new projects that are really based around those carveouts, because they don鈥檛 have to go through Act 250. So we鈥檙e starting to see some results from that approach.
Whether focusing exclusively on land-use rules is going to get us all the housing we need? It鈥檚 such a scale issue 鈥� I mean, many more thousands of units more. This is a very difficult environment to build in right now. Construction costs are high. Interest rates are high. Labor costs are high. It鈥檚 hard to find builders. And so in that challenging landscape, focusing on land-use rules is kind of, one of the things at least that policymakers here can do, that鈥檚 in their control to do.
Have questions, comments or tips? .
