This commentary is by John LaBarge of Grand Isle, who was a state representative from 1992 to 2002 and was the House Republican leader.
Recently several mayors of Vermont’s larger cities showed up at the Legislature to once again complain that Vermont needs affordable housing.
For more than a decade, the cry for affordable housing has come from the Legislature. The problem is you never hear from any of them what is considered affordable. Would one of you advocates please tell me how much a month for rent or a mortgage is affordable? What percentage of your net pay should go towards housing? If you can’t put a price tag on it, then how will you know when we reached the goal?
Editor’s note: Here’s a 2022 report from Vermont’s Joint Fiscal Office.
Here’s the real problem. We will never see affordable housing in our state because it is not so much about the cost of housing but about the high cost of living in Vermont.
People can’t afford an apartment or house because they have to spend too much on health care, child care, property taxes, food, clothing, heat, electricity, internet, phone service, car registration, car insurance, garbage and recycling fees, gas for their cars, diesel, sales and use taxes on products, etc.
Vermont ranks one the highest states in the nation for many of these monthly services and cost of living in general. It’s not about having affordable housing; it’s about not having enough money left from your paycheck to afford rent or a mortgage.
Democrats and Progressives have been in control in Montpelier for decades now and have never met a tax or fee or incentive program (we pay for) that they couldn’t fall in love with. All in the name of what’s good for the people. Feel-good legislation and a nanny state mentality is what strips our hard-earned paychecks, leaving many with little money for housing or child care and in many cases just enough for the necessities.
So again, Democrats and Progressives, how much a month do you think a person should pay for housing? Let’s start talking dollar amounts and go from there.
Now that Progressives and Democrats are in complete control in Montpelier with no risks of a governor’s veto, they can begin their social manipulation through taxation. This biennium, through the Global Warming Solution Act, they will increase the cost of gas, diesel, propane and natural gas until it forces people to convert or go without. They will try to sneak it through so it doesn’t look like a tax or fee levied on Vermonters.
They will continue forcing people into electric vehicles (we pay for the incentives), forcing people to purchase heat pumps (we pay for incentives), and who knows what gas engine tools they will ban. forcing landscapers and other workers to buy all-new electric tools. New mandates and regulations force contractors, landlords, landscapers, etc,. to spend more money, thereby increasing housing costs.
I was born and raised in Burlington and would love to live to my end here in Vermont, but I see Vermont becoming a Martha’s Vineyard, where only the wealthy elite will be able to live and enjoy the Vermont so many natives have fled because they can no longer afford to live here. The only Vermonters to remain will be those servicing the wealthy.
Our beautiful and once-independent state is either lost or will have to hit rock bottom before Vermont voters wake up and realize we are being socially manipulated, pushing their way of living on all of us. They have a total government control agenda. Today, Vermont has a two-party system, Democrats and Progressives; unfortunately, they all think and vote the same.