VHFA director says Vermont needs 24,000–36,000 homes by 2029, cites rising costs and low vacancy

Maura Collins, executive director of the Vermont Housing Finance Agency, told the House Committee on General & Housing on Friday that Vermont will need between 24,000 and 36,000 additional homes by the end of 2029 to meet projected household growth and replace homes taken off the market.

Collins said the range comes from a housing needs assessment VHFA completed under contract with the state's Department of Housing. "If you've heard the number that we need 24,000 to 36,000 homes in the state, it came from that report," she told the committee.

Why it matters: Collins said the shortfall combines several factors — units expected to leave the housing stock because they are unsafe or converted to nonresidential use (about 2,300 over five years in the assessment), current unsheltered and sheltered homelessness (the assessment’s recent point-in-time count puts this at roughly 33,100 people), and the number of new households expected to form. The assessment also factors in a target vacancy rate to permit healthy market turnover; VHFA used standard vacancy targets of about 5% for rentals and 3% for owner-occupied housing.

Collins cautioned that the…