Let’s Build Homes coalition urges lawmaker action on infrastructure financing, appeals reform and Act 181 guidance

Mauro Weinberger, former mayor of Burlington and a lead on the newly launched Let’s Build Homes coalition, told the House Committee on General & Housing on Jan. 15 that Vermont must sharply increase housing production and offered immediate policy priorities to help do it.

Weinberger said the coalition — which he said has roughly 400 Vermonters and about 100 organizations signed on after its public launch — wants to work with state and local governments to speed homebuilding. "It is clear that our housing shortage is so acute that it is not only driving unacceptable levels of pain among Vermonters," Weinberger said.

The coalition framed three near-term priorities. First, Weinberger recommended capturing a portion of the public revenues generated by new housing and using those revenues to finance the water, sewer, stormwater and road infrastructure…