Senate panel advances draft committee housing bill after review of governor's budget allocations

Montpelier — The Senate Economic Development, Housing & General Affairs Committee spent its Jan. 27 session walking through a draft committee housing bill that combines elements of the administration's budget, sponsor proposals and prior housing bills, with the goal of introducing and voting on the measure later in the week.

Chair opened the meeting by saying the committee intends to —move forward on our committee housing bill— and asked staff and witnesses to help clarify the draft's components. The session included a presentation from Ted Barnett of the Joint Fiscal Office, who summarized the governor's recommended housing investments.

Barnett said the GovRec would make $4,000,000 in funding for the Vermont Housing Improvement Program (VHIP) base funding, add an $800,000 one-time appropriation for infrastructure repair in addition to $2,000,000 in base funding from last year's Act 27, and allocate property transfer tax (PTT) revenue under existing statutory formulas. He described the PTT forecast at about $82,000,000 overall, with $37,600,000 allocated to the Housing and Conservation Trust Fund and roughly 60% of that trust allocation expected to support housing — about $22,600,000 under the statutory calculation. Barnett also noted the administration's estimates are broadly in line with recent forecasts but slightly lower than earlier projections.

Committee members pressed staff for more detail on how…