The Vermont House on Thursday approved a $95 million Covid-19 aid package that includes funding for housing assistance and broadband expansion.
The latest round of aid comes as lawmakers are racing to spend the majority of the $1.25 billion the state has received in federal Covid-19 assistance.
Legislators are planning to allocate most of the money and send spending packages to Gov. Phil Scott’s desk before they adjourn at the end of next week.
The House approved a $300 million spending bill this week that would offer financial assistance to the state’s health care industry. The proposed budget — which won Senate approval Wednesday and is expected to reach the governor’s desk in the coming days — contains $116 million of the federal Covid-19 dollars, including aid for Vermont’s K-12 schools and strained college system.
The package approved on Thursday includes $43 million that would be used for internet expansion, financial assistance for utilities and other initiatives. The remaining $52 million would aid landlords, tenants, and people who are homeless, as well as expanding affordable housing.
Under the proposal, about $14 million would be used to get broadband to homes in Vermont that lack internet connections.
The bill, H.966, includes $11 million for telecom providers to build broadband out to underserved areas. The Department of Public Service will oversee the funding, and prioritize connecting low income households where people need the internet to participate in remote learning, work remotely, or seek medical care via telehealth.
The plan would also give $2 million to Vermonters who could have access to nearby broadband networks, but still lack a connection, to install telecommunications lines from their homes.
An additional $800,000 would be made available to communications union districts, or CUDS. CUDs are community-owned fiber optic networks that serve multiple towns. The dollars would help them plan expansions in response to Covid-19.
Rep. Tim Briglin, D-Thetford, the chair of the House Energy and Technology Committee, said the Covid-19 pandemic has brought the socioeconomic divide between those who are connected to the internet and those who are not “into sharp relief.”
“Many who live in rural areas, cannot attend school, cannot go to work, and may not be able to access medical care,” Briglin said.
“Over the last three months, in order to access your government, whether you’re seeking justice in court, or attending a school board meeting or legislative committee hearing, you need a broadband internet connection.”
Lawmakers had initially planned on spending tens of millions in additional funding on expanding internet connectivity in the wake of Covid-19.
Some even hoped that with so much federal funding available, every home in the state could be connected to the internet. But the CARES Act money must be spent in six months, and that makes that idea “nearly impossible,” Briglin said.
About 70,000 Vermonters lack internet connection, or have poor service. It would cost between $85 million and $293 million to connect every home in the state, according to the Department of Public Service.
The CARES Act money also needs to be tied to the Covid-19 pandemic. While it may be permissible to use the money to connect homes where students or remote workers live, it probably couldn’t be used to connect to all addresses in the state.
“One of the challenges of the federal money that we’ve been given is how quickly we have to deploy it and then also the specificity and the needs with which it can be deployed,” Briglin said.
Briglin said the funding included in the legislation could connect about 4,000 households.
In addition to broadband deployment, the package from the House Energy and Technology Committee includes $20 million that will help low-income Vermonters cover gas, electric and water utility bills that have gone unpaid during the pandemic.
The housing portion of the legislation contains $52 million in spending on initiatives ranging from rental assistance and foreclosure protection to a program that would help property owners renovate housing stock for low-income residents.
The bulk of the funding — $30 million — would cover back rent owed by tenants. It would be given to the Vermont State Housing Authority and then distributed directly to landlords.
The Vermont Housing Finance Agency would receive $6 million to provide “technical and financial assistance” to low- and middle-income homeowners in an effort to prevent foreclosures.
It would use $6.2 million to create a grant program for property owners to refurbish “blighted” or vacant rental housing for low income residents.
Rep. Tom Stevens, D-Waterbury, the chair of the House General, Housing and Military Affairs Committee, said there are close to 20,000 housing units in the state that are currently “offline” because they are slightly out of code, and require small renovations.
“There are at least several hundred to up to 2,000 landlords who may be interested in such a grant program that would help increase the capacity of apartments to put people who are currently precariously housed into a more stable situation,” Stevens said.
Under the program, which would be administered by statewide and regional housing organizations, property owners could receive up to $30,000 per housing unit.
The Vermont Housing and Conservation Board would also receive $9 million to expand shelters and other assistance for people who are homeless throughout the state.
