Statewide coalition 'Let’s Build Homes' urges doubling Vermont housing production, backs CHIP and mapping changes

Nuro Weinberger, executive chair of Let’s Build Homes, told the Grand Isle County Regional Planning Commission that the coalition aims to increase Vermont housing production to meet targets identified in a Vermont Housing Finance Agency report. "We have to double the housing production rate if we're going to get in the ballpark," Weinberger said.

The coalition, launched earlier in the year, now includes more than 235 organizations and a broad mix of interests, Weinberger said. Membership ranges from traditional affordable-housing nonprofits and builders to AARP, youth service organizations and utilities — groups he said are seeing workforce and service impacts from the housing shortage.

Weinberger described two policy tools Let’s Build Homes is prioritizing: the Community Housing Infrastructure Program (CHIP), which would use public increment financing to pay last-mile infrastructure costs for projects adjacent to existing sewer and street networks; and changes to Act 250 mapping (the state land use jurisdiction) that would create larger, more permissive Tier 1A and Tier 1B growth areas. "What CHIP will work really well for is if you have a piece of land that is adjacent to existing sewer infrastructure, extending the lines out," he said.

He said the coalition supports continued public subsidy for permanently affordable housing but argues subsidy alone cannot produce the volume of homes the state needs. Weinberger cited the VHFA report’s estimate that Vermont needs roughly 30,000 additional housing units by 2030 and said that the subsidized production system in Vermont produces roughly 250 units a year — far short of the target. "It's not going to come from that system alone," he said.

Weinberger described alternatives to reduce construction costs, including more permissive local codes to allow duplexes, triplexes and accessory dwelling units, and greater use of factory-built or modular construction. He said some large institutions, including hospitals and colleges, are beginning to act as housing developers to meet workforce needs.

Commissioners and participants raised questions about whether CHIP could fill financing gaps for projects already in planning and how the mapping process would treat major commercial corridors. Weinberger said CHIP can be used creatively to fill gaps and reiterated the coalition’s goal of mapping generous growth areas so regional planning commissions and municipalities can support housing production.

Weinberger invited commission members to review Let’s Build Homes materials online and to consider joining the coalition. No formal action was taken by the commission on the presentation.