This commentary is by Isaac Evans-Frantz of Brattleboro, a founding member of Action Corps, chair of the LGBTQI+ caucus of the Vermont Democratic Party, and a former member of the Vermont State Board of Education.
I believe housing, like health care, is a human right. But in many Vermont communities, out-of-state corporate landlords are kicking out tenants — including people who pay their rent and follow the rules — in order to jack up the rent.
This is part of a national phenomenon. As my team and I biked across Vermont for my U.S. Senate campaign this past summer, we heard from our fellow Vermonters how this was happening in their communities. In Barre. In Brattleboro. In Burlington.
“To prevent evictions,” the Biden White House wrote in January, “renters should have access to just- or good-cause eviction protections that require a justified cause to evict a tenant.”
I agree. And voters can make sure renters have access to these protections by supporting a measure on Town Meeting Day, Tuesday, March 7, in Brattleboro, Essex, Essex Junction and Winooski. (Burlington voters passed the measure last year, and voters in Hartford and Montpelier have been organizing to put it on their ballots as well.)
Per the proposals, violation of a rental agreement or state statutes — creating a hostile environment, for example — is grounds for eviction. But, “A landlord shall not evict a tenant for the sole purpose of raising the rent.” Those are the words of the proposed amendment to the Brattleboro town charter.
Rising rent, and the accompanying unjust evictions, drive homelessness. Nationally, tenants experienced a 17.2 percent increase in average rents in the 12-month period ending February 2022. Without sufficient stable housing Vermonters can afford, we cannot house our workforce and meet the labor needs of our communities.
On a personal level, unjust evictions are major disruptions in people’s lives and contribute to homelessness. From 2007 to 2021, homelessness increased in Vermont by 259%. Last month, data came out that Vermont has the second-highest homelessness rate in the United States, following only California’s.
Evictions worsen existing social injustices; for example, evictions disproportionately hurt Black women and children, and have been associated with increased mortality. One way to honor Black people’s lives is to support the proposed charter changes.
With an extremely low availability of rental units, evictions often force tenants out of state, or, in many cases, onto the street and into shelters. These tenants include Vermonters who pay their rent, look after their homes, and are part of their communities. Evictions place enormous strain on people’s mental well-being and on our public services.
Recent local news coverage has described challenges unsheltered individuals in southern Vermont face. I do not want anyone in our villages, cities and towns to die from hypothermia. This is why I have called on my local selectboard to discuss shelter for our unsheltered neighbors. Staffing shelters to keep them safe can be a real challenge in Vermont. But creating tenant protections from abusive landlords is one thing we can do — one thing to help prevent homelessness in the first place.
To be clear, many local housing providers are deeply caring individuals, invested in our communities, and go above and beyond to treat their tenants well. Meanwhile, the pandemic, bureaucratic systems, and social problems have created real headaches for many of these landlords. Understandably, many local landlords worry about the impact of the proposed charter change. Moving eviction cases through the courts already takes too long and can be costly.
But tenants should not have to sacrifice their rights due to a backed-up court system. Nor should landlords. If the proposed charter amendment passes, the court system could see a dramatic reduction in eviction cases: According to Vermont Legal Aid, no-cause evictions account for 50% of evictions that go to court. The charter change would potentially remove the backlog from these spurious eviction cases, and expedite cases that are for qualifying reasons.
Some local landlords have argued that the proposed charter change could make them hesitant to offer housing to low-income families. The new Landlord Relief Program, however, (see VTDigger 2/14/2023), offers increased security for landlords statewide and incentivizes their renting to people with low incomes. This program will mitigate any increased risk to landlords from the charter changes.
Ultimately, low- and middle-income Vermonters need housing they can afford. This calls for a resident-focused approach. We need capital investment in new housing, full federal funding of the Section 8 housing vouchers program, supportive services for people in our towns who are most vulnerable — including people with disabilities and health challenges — and legal support for tenants. Finally, we need to protect Vermonters from evictions without cause.
Many of the needed housing investments will require organizing, planning, dollars — and years — to implement. We should work on all of them. What we can do on Town Meeting Day, Tuesday, March 7, is use our voices and votes to protect tenants against outrageous rent hikes and unjust evictions. If you have the opportunity to support municipal charter changes that day, and like me believe that housing is a human right, then I encourage you to use your voice and vote in support of the proposed charter changes.
