Sen. Michael Sirotkin would like to see another housing bond introduced as the centerpiece of this year’s omnibus housing bill.
The Legislature in 2017 passed a $37 million bond that has been used to pay for affordable housing projects around the state. Sirotkin, chairman of the Senate Economic Development, Housing and General Affairs Committee, likes the results so much that he wants to do it again. With housing affordability a top priority for employers, lawmakers, and the governor’s office, Sirotkin said, now is the time.
“Everybody seems to be concerned with the price of housing and the availability of housing for the state of Vermont, from people who are homeless to large and small businesses and everybody in between,” said Sirotkin, D-Chittenden, on Tuesday. “I want to think big.”
The Vermont Housing Conservation Board says it has committed $24.8 million so far from the 2017 bond that will leverage another $140 million through programs like the low-income housing tax credit and public-private partnerships. The rest of the 2018 money will be allocated by the end of 2019, Gus Seelig, the board’s executive director, told lawmakers recently.
VHCB’s goal is to build 550 to 650 homes with the 2017 bond. So far, Seelig said, the money has gone toward 21 projects including about 550 homes in nine counties.
Business and policy leaders often say the state’s housing shortage deters people from moving to Vermont to take jobs. A housing needs assessment regarding Vermont’s housing supply from 2015 to 2020 carried out by Bowen National Research for the state Department of Housing and Community Development found that availability is limited, with vacancy rates of just 1 percent for multifamily apartments.
The low vacancy rates have pushed housing prices too high for even middle-class families in many areas.
When they first approached lawmakers in 2016 with the idea of a housing bond, advocates asked for $70 million, said Chris Donnelly, director of community relations for the Champlain Housing Trust.
“We picked that number because we were trying to be practical but also bold,” Donnelly said. “That was a big number for people to wrap their heads around, but we knew we could get that amount out the door very quickly. We have a pent-up pipeline of development activity that we just can’t do because we don’t have the resources.”
Sirotkin said he’d like this year’s bond to be at least as large as the original $37 million. Even that wouldn’t solve the state’s housing problems, Donnelly said.
“We’re looking at another 600 to 700 homes that could be created” with another $37 million, he said. “That is not going to solve all the need out there.”
Sirotkin said he hasn’t polled his committee on the idea, but has the impression most would be in favor. One member who supports it is state Sen. Becca Balint, D-Windham.
“We have been so pleased with the reports that we get back in our committee about the last housing bond,” Balint said. “We were able to leverage more federal dollars than we even anticipated through the state investment.”
She added that she knows of two housing projects in her district that are being built because of the housing bond.
“We want more of that,” she said. “We want to take advantage of this moment when everybody sees we can’t grow the economy, can’t attract younger families and keep families here without more housing, and more affordable housing.”
Balint said the small housing proposals in Gov. Phil Scott’s budget this year were welcome, “but there is really nothing that approaches it on a large scale like we did with the last bond.”
Seelig, the VHCB head, said another housing bond could be used to rejuvenate aging mobile home parks and other deteriorating housing stock.
“I just fielded a call today from a couple of legislators who are concerned about housing that has fallen on hard times in their communities,” Seelig said Tuesday. “We’ve gotten a lot of good projects underway, and there’s indicators there is more that needs to be addressed.”
Before he can propose borrowing the money, Sirotkin has to come up with reliable funding sources to make the annual principal and interest payments on the bond. He said he’s looking into using a now-uncollected tax on Expedia bookings in Vermont, and tapping into uncollected taxes on property transfers that are carried by out through stock, not by deed.
“It is a loophole to the property transfer tax that we otherwise wouldn’t collect,” he said. “Several states have closed that loophole. If we closed that loophole, it should save us a few more million dollars of property transfer taxes.”
