Vt. Gov. Phil Scott said this week his administration has proposed several measures to alleviate the state’s housing crisis. Those proposals include regulatory changes.
Housing has been a key issue since Scott first took office nearly 10 years ago. And in this year’s budget address on Jan. 20, he called the need for more housing a “major challenge where we need to change our approach.”
This week the Republican governor said it’s clear that even though the state has invested hundreds of millions of dollars, money alone won’t fix the problem.
“And we’re not getting the return on investment we need because it’s still too slow, too difficult and too costly to build here. We cannot rely on just spending our way out of this crisis. If we could, it would’ve been solved by now. That’s why we desperately need more regulatory reform.”
The 2025 Vermont Housing Needs Assessment determined that “the pace of home building will need to increase to create the 24,000 to 36,000 additional year-round homes needed in 2025-2029 to meet demand.”
Scott said the state’s housing programs haven’t made enough of a difference.
“Unfortunately even with these programs and funding it hasn’t moved the needle quick enough because we haven’t aligned our old regulatory system to meet current demand, which is about 30,000 homes over the next 4 years.”
The call for regulatory reform in Vermont comes as other states have announced similar measures. During last month’s State of the State address, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul introduced a “Let Them Build” agenda that includes a series of development reforms, including proposed changes to the state’s Environmental Quality Review Act.
Vermont’s Department of Housing and Community Development Commissioner Alex Farrell outlined the Scott administration’s housing policy priorities for this legislative session. He said their bills look at how to make it easier to build housing, especially for small scale developers.
“This year’s administration housing proposals broadly fit into three categories. The first being reforms to rebalance Act 250. The second being municipal permitting and planning reforms and the third making the Vermont Housing Improvement Program, or VHIP, permanent.”
Act 250 is the state’s land use zoning law enacted in 1970. The administration is also calling for reforms to Act 181, passed in 2024, which made some changes to Act 250 and updated land use maps.
Scott believes there are mixed attitudes in the legislature toward reforming land use laws and regulations.
“I go back to the last campaign. Most campaigned on more housing and now is the time to step up and prove it. You know when we have a crisis, which many have described our housing needs as a crisis, you have to do things that are uncomfortable. Now is the time to prove that we can do things even if it’s for a certain period of time to get back on our feet and get the number of homes that we need in place. Housing is one area that will unlock a lot of the other challenges that we face as well.”
Vermont League of Cities and Towns Director of Intergovernmental Relations Josh Hanford says the top issue for the municipalities that they represent is housing availability and affordability. The League generally supports Scott’s proposals and agrees that Act 250 needs reforms. But Hanford notes the largest concern right now is reforming Act 181.
“It was set up to be a balance between allowing more areas for growth, housing and other community development and additional conservation measures on significant sensitive areas. It’s turned out to be much more of an increased impact on slowing down development even in the areas where communities want to see more housing. So folks are asking to open that back up, make some changes.”
Agency of Commerce and Community Development Secretary Lindsay Kurrle highlighted a new Community Housing Infrastructure Program, or CHIP, launched last week to help smaller communities with statewide funding up to $2 billion by 2035 for infrastructure improvements. She said this is the next step the state is trying to speed housing production while lowering upfront costs.
“CHIP will help communities finance water, sewer and other essential infrastructure tied to the creation of housing. It allows municipalities and developers to work together to unlock housing at scale and one project at a time, which will benefit more Vermont towns, especially our rural communities.”
