Vermont Governor Phil Scott focused his weekly briefing Tuesday on housing policies he hopes to champion during the legislative session. He was also questioned about the potential impact of the new Trump Administration on the state.
Democrats lost a supermajority in the Vermont House and Senate in the November elections, giving the Republican governor renewed optimism that his four key policy priorities of education, housing, affordability and public safety will have traction during the biennium. Governor Scott focused on housing policy during his briefing, saying the lack of decent affordable housing is a major concern across the state.
“It's impacting Vermonters looking to move into an apartment or buy a home and prevents us from growing our workforce. This lack of housing affects us in many other ways as well. It means fewer kids in our schools, fewer homes added to the grand list, which makes our schools even more unaffordable and it puts pressure on our Human Services budget and contributes to our public safety challenges,” Scott noted. “Turning this around will take bold action so that we can generate more housing that's affordable and begin to reverse the demographic and affordability trends we've been facing for decades.”
Scott said about 40,000 new homes will be needed over the next five years. The Department of Housing released a Housing Development Targets Report on Tuesday and the governor said it shows the state is creating about a quarter of what is needed.
“It's important we focus on housing this legislative session. What we're asking for is to make it easier and faster to develop in the places where it makes sense, where there's existing infrastructure, or the ability to add to what's already there,” Scott said. “So first, we need to make it easier to build new homes or renovate existing homes. Second, we need to strengthen and expand infrastructure that's critical to housing. And finally, we need regulatory reform so it's more cost effective for small scale investors and home builders to build and fix up homes.”
Department of Housing and Community Development Commissioner Alex Farrell says the housing needs report also aims to improve the state’s economy and demographics.
“This data, in part, will be informing and be reflected in our housing bill. In the inaugural address, Governor Scott outlined the four pillars of our housing strategy which have shaped the administration's omnibus housing bill.” Farrell continued, “The first is strengthening our foundation for growth with new tools for financing and funding infrastructure to support home building. The second, reinvigorating our neglected communities such as our rural downtowns and our villages and our mobile home parks, which have been neglected for decades. The third is upending our housing market dynamics. Then the fourth is breaking down procedural barriers with our appeals, our permitting and our regulatory processes. This housing bill, if fully adopted, will improve outcomes in every corner of Vermont.”
President Donald Trump was sworn in for the second time on Monday and immediately began issuing executive orders. Scott, a fellow Republican who did not support Trump, said it has been difficult to keep up with the number of executive orders being issued out of Washington.
“There's going to be a lot of this from D.C. and there's going to be a lot of attention about the what could be’s and what's happening in some of these executive orders. And we're going to have to do our best to manage that,” mulled Scott. “We're going to have to prioritize because we have many challenges right here in our own backyard. So I think from our standpoint, we're going to react as need be and prioritize the most egregious and then we'll push back if necessary and embrace those that might be helpful and advantageous to Vermont. So we'll just have to take them one at a time. But, but at this point, there's nothing that I can see that we can do with the ones I heard about.”
Governor Scott also indicated uncertainty about how the new federal administration will impact the state’s efforts to meet its climate goals.
