This commentary is by Miro Weinberger, of Burlington. He is executive chair of Let’s Build Homes, a visiting fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Taubman Center for State and Local Government, and former mayor of Burlington.
Last spring, I wrote that the national discussion sparked by “Abundance,” the new book by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson, was “100% about us.” About Vermont, our housing shortage and our struggle to move from a culture of blocking to a culture of building.
Just months later, that conversation came to Vermont itself. More than 400 business leaders, policymakers, high school students and legislators gathered in late October to hear Derek Thompson, one of the co-authors of “Abundance,” speak at a Vermont Business Roundtable’s breakfast.
His message was both clear and urgent: America’s affordability crisis is fundamentally a housing crisis, driven by the legal and regulatory barriers that prevent us from building enough homes where people want and need to live.
Derek showed how housing costs rise precisely when young people are trying to start families and businesses, crowding out savings, innovation and opportunity. His argument resonates deeply with our experience in Vermont, where outdated zoning, redundant permitting systems and slow government processes have left too many people unable to find a decent, affordable place to live.
When Derek said, “If you want abundance, you have to build,” it felt like he was speaking directly to Vermonters.
The fact that this national discussion is happening here, not just in Washington, D.C. or California, is a sign of real momentum. It means Vermont is being recognized as part of the solution, not just a symptom of the national problem. The abundance agenda is taking root in our state.
At Let’s Build Homes, we see this moment as both validation and motivation. Our mission to create a Vermont of abundant housing for households of all income levels where communities thrive in harmony with our working lands, aligns perfectly with the principles of “Abundance.” The hundreds of leaders who joined the event are proof that the will to change is growing.
We’ve already seen meaningful progress. The Legislature has begun to modernize Act 250 and last year passed a bill to make it easier to finance the water, sewer, and road infrastructure that new homes depend on.
As a result of both local initiative and the Legislature’s Home Act, towns across the state are rethinking zoning to allow more housing where it’s needed most. These are exactly the kinds of steps that Abundance calls for: pragmatic, pro-building reforms that make growth possible without compromising our working lands.
Still, the work is far from done. Even as we make progress, too many families remain priced out of the communities they grew up in. Too many workers and young people still can’t find a home close to their job. Too many projects that meet our shared goals get stuck in unnecessary layers of process. The next phase of this effort must be even more ambitious. We must ensure that when a community has planned for housing in the right places, those homes can actually get built.
As Derek reminded us, America’s problem isn’t a lack of ideas, it’s a lack of permission. We’ve built political systems that make it far easier to stop something than to start it. Vermont has lived that truth for decades.
But the energy in that room told me that this is changing. We are choosing a new path. A path that recognizes that a vibrant, sustainable Vermont requires more homes, more opportunity and more people who can afford to live and work here. A path where communities grow and thrive in harmony with our working landscape.
The politics of abundance means having the courage to say yes. Yes to smart growth, yes to new homes in the right places, yes to a future where young families and working Vermonters can thrive.
Let’s Build Homes is proud to help lead this transition. We’re building a movement that unites business and institution leaders, local officials, housing advocates and working Vermonters around one shared vision: a state that builds for its future rather than fears it.
Derek Thompson’s visit was more than a keynote. It was a milestone: a sign that Vermont’s effort to move from scarcity to abundance is being noticed, supported and strengthened by a growing national movement.
Now it’s up to us to keep building: literally and figuratively. The opportunity before us is enormous, and so is the responsibility. We’ve taken important steps, but much more lies ahead if we want to make building homes in the right places faster, simpler, and fairer for everyone.
Let’s seize this moment to ensure that every Vermonter, present and future, can find a place to call home.
