This commentary is by Ali Jalili of Burlington, is a retired Foreign Service Officer who held assignments all over the world. He was primarily an economic officer, analyzing and writing about economic issues relevant to U.S. policy makers.
Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger recently tweeted his pleasure at the sight of construction cranes in the Queen City. I couldn’t agree more.
I’ve been lucky to travel the U.S. and world, and cranes are undoubtedly a sign of urban vibrancy. And the opposite seems true as well — where you don’t see growth and development, you often see stagnation and decay. Witness many cities in New England and across the U.S. that have lost population and suffered a vicious cycle of economic decline.
Our state government has focused, with some success, on growing our population. We can and must do more. We got lucky with an influx of new Vermonters due to the pandemic, and some more who are “climate refugees.” Unfortunately, that influx has not been matched with a commensurate growth in housing, leading to extreme price pressures that have had wide-ranging negative consequences.
This is especially true in Chittenden County (and perhaps in Vermont’s other hubs as well, although I’m not as familiar with those). Skyrocketing home prices and rents have reenergized interest in more housing.
I’m not an expert, but we have no shortage of expert proposals and recommendations on how to create more housing. To expand supply in cities, we need to embrace density. In Burlington. We have hundreds of lots occupied by single-family homes within walking distance of the downtown core. Many of these lots could hold multiple units, literally adding hundreds or thousands of residential units close to all that makes Burlington a great little city.
These new units could be perfectly charming townhouses designed to maintain Burlington’s “character,” or small or even large (e.g., CityPlace) apartment or condo complexes.
Even with townhouses, a lot currently used for a single-family home could hold three or four or more units, especially when lots are combined.
To create greater density, many have opined about the need for zoning reform and reform of the systems that enable a few vocal opponents of growth to shut down needed developments. Both types of reform are needed and I strongly encourage our legislators to support those efforts.
I would even suggest our government to do more than “get out of the way” of development and actively encourage it. For various legitimate and bogus reasons, developers get a bad rap. But we’re not going to build thousands of new housing units without developers, so we need to actively engage with them, listen to them, and cooperate with them to achieve our shared goals.
And it’s not just “affordable housing” we need (although we certainly need that too). We need more housing of all types throughout our region, and at all price points, including more single-family homes in the suburbs.
I’m saddened when I learn that our most promising new companies have identified needed skilled workers from out of state who have turned down jobs due to a lack of suitable housing. We can’t miss out on the many needed doctors, engineers, coders and others who can’t find the housing they want even at the upper ends of the housing spectrum.
These workers and their families are key to our future economic and societal growth and development.
I know that many will disagree with even the fundamental premise that growth is good. Many who have lived here a long time want to keep things as they were/are. But it’s very hard to maintain a status quo. The economy and society are dynamic — moving in one direction or the other. If we’re not growing, I fear we will be shrinking, and surely none of us wants that.
We need more kids in our schools, employees, caregivers, volunteers, shopkeepers, artists, etc. — the people who make for a vibrant community. I’m hopeful that more cranes means we’ll be ready to house them, too.
