The Vermont Senate gave preliminary approval Wednesday to a bill that would create a statewide registry of rental units.
The bill, S.210, also would take inspecting rentals out of the hands of volunteer-run town health offices and instead charge the state’s Department of Public Safety with the task.
A handful of cities in Vermont currently have formal rental inspection programs, with professional code enforcers. But an estimated 55,000 units exist in municipalities where mostly unpaid health officers with little formal training conduct inspections on behalf of complainants.
“We want residents of rental housing — often our lowest-income, most vulnerable residents — to have safe, healthy and code-compliant apartments,” Senate Majority Leader Alison Clarkson, D-Windsor, said while reporting the bill on the virtual Senate floor.
Proponents also argue that the state currently has poor data about the long- and short-term rental landscape in Vermont, which is particularly problematic as it considers where to invest tens of millions in federal dollars.
“To plan for future housing, we need to know where current housing is located. A (state) registry would allow for better information about where best to spend public dollars to address our housing needs,” Clarkson said.
The bill includes $400,000 to pay for the start-up costs of hiring inspectors and creating the registry, but proponents say the program likely would be self-funded in the future. A $35 annual fee assessed to landlords would raise more than $1 million a year, according to estimates.
Gov. Phil Scott vetoed a similar measure last year, arguing that the new regulations were unnecessary and would reduce the number of rentals at a time when the state already is faced with a critical shortage of housing.
“I believe this will discourage everyday Vermonters from offering their homes, rooms or summer cabins for rent, not as a primary business but as a means to supplement their income so they can pay their mortgage as well as their property taxes,” he wrote to lawmakers in his veto letter for S.79.
Senators say they’ve tried to address the governor’s stated concerns. S.210 exempts seasonal camps and owner-occupied properties with up to two rental units. Landlords also don’t have to register a unit if it’s rented out for less than 90 days a year.
But the governor’s office has continued to say that’s not enough. A floor vote on S.210 was originally scheduled for Tuesday morning but was postponed as lawmakers pursued talks with Scott’s team. On Tuesday afternoon, Sen. Michael Sirotkin, D-Chittenden, who sponsored the bill, said senators hadn’t been able to get to “yes” with the governor but still wanted to move the legislation along.
If the bill passes on third reading in the Senate Thursday, S.210 would move on to the House. Sirotkin said he hopes that would give lawmakers enough time to work out an acceptable compromise with Scott.
“I would say we’re close but we’re not quite there yet,” said Sirotkin, who also chairs the Senate Committee on Economic Development, Housing and General Affairs.
In an apparent attempt to bring the governor to the table, lawmakers have included $20 million Scott wants for the Vermont Housing Improvement Program in the bill. The housing improvement program, which was created last year, helps landlords pay for repairs to bring code-violating and vacant properties back on the market.
S.210 passed 22-8 Wednesday on a party-line vote, with Republicans unified in opposition. Senate Minority Leader Randy Brock, R-Franklin, argued the bill was overly burdensome to landlords and suggested it would lead to even more regulation down the line.
“It reminds me in some ways of telling Vermonters that, ‘Look, we’re going to provide you protection from having your home burglarized. But in order to do so we need to have a complete list of each and every thing that you have as a valuable in each and every one of your homes,’” he told his colleagues on the floor. “This is a system that will never end. It is intrusive.”
