House adopts conference report on housing bill, creates CHIP tax-increment program with $200 million cap

The Vermont House adopted the committee of conference report on Senate Bill 127 on a roll-call vote, approving a package of housing measures that creates the Community and Housing Infrastructure Program, a tax-increment financing (TIF) tool with a $200,000,000 cap to support infrastructure for new primary residences.

The bill matters because it creates a new financing tool — CHIP — intended to encourage development of primary residences across urban and rural Vermont, while including guardrails intended to limit impacts on the statewide education fund. Member from Woodstock, Representative (House member), who presented CHIP provisions for the conference committee, said the measure balances the need for infrastructure financing with protections for the education fund.

Under the conference report, CHIP generally follows existing statewide TIF rules for eligible improvements but narrows the purpose to projects that create new primary residences under section 19 o 7. The program sets a $200 million lifetime cap on approved projects;…