Vermont housing board urges mix of shelter expansion and permanent affordable homes as bill H91 advances

Beth Stewart, director of the Vermont Housing & Conservation Board, and Polly Major, the board’s policy director, told a legislative committee that Vermont must balance investments in emergency shelter capacity with longer-term construction of permanently affordable homes as lawmakers consider changes in bill H91. "We have taken in close to 1,600 households" into housing during the pandemic, Stewart said, describing the scale of the state’s recent response.

The testimony centered on why a dollar of state investment can produce either a shelter bed or a permanent home and how the mix of leverage from federal tax credits and private capital makes permanent housing cost-effective over time. The board recommended integrating hotel- and shelter-based programs under a single administration, using coordinated entry for referrals, and allowing services to follow tenants after placement to improve housing stability.

The committee heard examples of conversions and new developments across Vermont that the board supports: a formerly vacant upper story project in Montpelier that now provides 19 apartments (five with explicit protections), multiple Rutland-area projects including an 86-unit pipeline, and several hotel-to-housing conversions that expanded shelter and later became…