Land Access and Opportunity Board asks for steady funding, outlines housing and land-access programs

At a meeting of the Agriculture, Food Resiliency, & Forestry committee, Jean Hamilton, co‑director of the Land Access and Opportunity Board, reported on the board’s first year of staff work and urged steady funding to expand land‑access and housing programs. Hamilton said the board was written into the governor’s budget for $1,600,000 and is pursuing a separate, larger funding stream through a cannabis excise‑tax community‑reinvestment proposal she said could total about $5,600,000.

Hamilton told members the LAOB has been contracted to serve as the state’s anchor organization for a regional U.S. Environmental Protection Agency grant effort she described as “a $48,000,000 grant project” available across New England; she added the LAOB itself would receive a smaller anchor allocation of about $150,000 if that work proceeds. "This past week, every single day, we have gotten different guidance on, it's a go, we're holding back," Hamilton said of the EPA rollout.

Why it matters: Hamilton said the funds would enable direct payments and program scaling aimed at Vermonters who face systemic barriers to land and homeownership, naming low‑income residents, people with disabilities, immigrants and refugees,…