This commentary is by Kevin Lawrence of Newbury, who owns two rental homes. He has worked for 34 years as a public school teacher.
The housing crisis in Vermont gets acknowledgement by all with very few real changes visible on our landscape. As a landlord with high standards for our modest rental units, and a recent opening for tenancy, I tested the public response to advertising a two-bedroom unit in rural Vermont in mid-May of this year.
The response by needy, working Vermonters was overwhelming.
First, I went old-school in advertising in two local paper editions. We know the demographic, and predictably I received just two inquiries the first two days, both from older applicants.
So, I moved onto Facebook and Craigslist at 8 o’clock on a Friday morning with my advertising for the rental. By 8 p.m., I had responded to 40 inquiries, causing me to shut down the online advertisements.
People continued to contact me for days thereafter, inquiring, “Where did your advertisement go?” or, “A friend had a screenshot of this advertisement. Is it available?”
“Available” sounds like it should have a predictable outcome for consumers with money, good credit and background checks, personable demeanors, etc. However, in the middle of this housing crisis, I soon realized that I would be denying tenancy to dozens of truly good applicants in order to fill one vacancy.
The parade of invited and scheduled apartment-seekers came on the next Sunday.
From 10:30 a.m. until 5 p.m., my wife and I escorted 25 families and/or individuals through the rental unit, one group at a time. The stories we heard ranged from the truly eager to severely desperate.
One multigenerational family had three weeks before they faced eviction by a new landlord. A half-dozen viable applicants had been living with parents, some sleeping on air mattresses in living rooms. Families with young children described living in a second-floor apartment with no place to play outside.
Many people were driving too far to get to work, hoping to move closer to their jobs in Bradford or St. Johnsbury. Mobility for most seemed unavailable.
The hardest part about meeting qualified and financially stable people for tenancy — only one of whom would get to sign our lease — relates to just how many demonstrated all the characteristics landlords admire. Many said they had $3,000 on them — first month’s, last month’s, and a security deposit — to sign a contract that day. All applications showed evidence of solid employment or retirement income. Pets were rarely an obstacle, despite my history of saying “no” to folks with large, loud or wild dogs.
With few exceptions, applicants were neat-looking, respectful, polite and forthcoming. They frequently represented everything we needed in a tenant-landlord relationship. All I would need to help would be 10 to 15 more housing units for rent, which is not an option for me.
An analysis of the origins of this housing crisis here would plow no new ground to resolve this issue. Waiting for a federal response seems futile. Employers such as our local Cottage Hospital (in Woodsville, New Hampshire) can repeat how attracting new skilled, well-paid employees to our region fails repeatedly when they look for a place to live.
Our weary state legislators went home in early May, imagining that they had balanced the budget and done all they could for Vermonters. The work of our leaders, however — local and state — endeavoring to resolve this housing crisis must continue.
Planning boards at the local town and city level should revisit their zoning rules this summer, not waiting for 10-year review periods. Existing property owners should receive more flexibility and encouragement to develop auxiliary apartments within larger homes. Two-acre requirements for new home construction require scrutiny and change to allow for homes on smaller parcels.
State legislators should develop a lending program that encourages residential development, allowing the state to provide revenue that people pay back as qualified projects develop to house needy Vermonters.
The consequences of doing nothing will lead to serious economic failures for our aging population. Tax revenues from working people new to the workforce will continue to stagnate. The professional class, famous for mobility, will move where the housing and jobs reside. Our hospitals will continue to carry the burden of “traveling staff” who cannot find permanent local housing.
Energy independence initiatives will not realize their potential as people drive too far between work and home. Young families without secure housing will endure hardships and suffer indignities that make an American Dream seem out of reach. School populations will continue to decline.
Despite the recent housing value inflation, this is not 2008 again. We cannot bounce back without a full effort to create new housing for working Vermonters who want to stay in this Green Mountain State.
