Lawmakers hear 'Homes for All' toolkit to speed missing-middle housing; preapproved designs due Dec. 2026
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Summary
State housing staff presented the Homes for All toolkit and training program, proposing preapproved construction-ready designs and local training to help small-scale developers; presenters said infrastructure constraints (water/sewer capacity) and financing remain the main barriers to more housing.
At a joint session on Feb. 17, the Natural Resources & Energy committee and the Senate Economic Development, Housing and Sustainable Affairs committee heard a presentation on the Homes for All toolkit, an initiative to ease municipal permitting and expand small-scale development across the state.
J. D. Memmerich, a senior planning and policy manager in the Department of Housing and Community Development, reviewed past programs (neighborhood development area designations, bylaw modernization grants, the HOME Act) and described the three-part Homes for All approach: engagement/design studies, training and mentorship for small-scale developers, and a catalog of preapproved, construction-ready home designs to support regulatory streamlining.
Memmerich said the toolkit's training and mentorship components are intended to demystify development for local contractors and new small-scale developers, and named pilot partners in Essex Junction, Hartford and Manchester. He told the committee the program will deliver 10 preapproved home designs with both on-site and modular construction options, and that the designs will be available in December 2026.
Members pressed on two persistent barriers: infrastructure and financing. Memmerich said there is no comprehensive statewide GIS map of water and sewer lines and capacities, though a University of Vermont student project has mapped roughly 60% of the state and would need professional QA to be relied upon by developers. He added that infrastructure pinch points matter: "if they just had a slightly larger pipe, they could unlock 600 units," he said, urging investment in pipes and sewer capacity as a lever to unlock development.
Jennifer Murray, a former planning director in Middlebury who worked on the Stonecrop Meadows project, told the committee that coordinated planning, municipal planning grants (commonly about $30,000) and early developer buy-in helped make that infill project feasible. Murray and others emphasized building local capacity—planners, contractors and small developers—to turn regulatory change into actual housing starts.
Memmerich said the department expects to complete the preapproved designs by December 2026 and may provide a summary of pilot outreach and findings after the pilots proceed. Committee members asked for future reporting on pilot outcomes and construction cost versus asset-value estimates to test feasibility.