Lawmakers, Gov. Phil Scott sign off on $14 million for flood relief

In the wake of last month’s catastrophic flooding, lawmakers signed off on a request from Gov. Phil Scott this week to move $14 million into new housing and business relief programs.

That cash will be split evenly between an effort to purchase and site new mobile homes for low-income Vermonters and a grant program for businesses, farms and non-profits who pledge to reopen their doors and bring back employees.

Scott requested and received approvals for the transfers Thursday from Vermont’s Emergency Board, a special panel on which he sits which also includes the Legislature’s four money committee chairs. The committee can meet when lawmakers are not otherwise in session to approve spending. For now, the $14 million will be diverted from a special fund held at the Treasurer’s office for the purposes of bond redemption, but Scott’s office said the fund would be replenished when lawmakers come back this winter and pass their regular appropriation bills.

At least 21 homes were completely destroyed by the floods this July, and another 100 were severely damaged and could become uninhabitable, according to preliminary state estimates.

“The loss of those homes is devastating for homeowners and renters, and the loss of those units only contributes to Vermont’s housing crisis, which has been building for decades,” Vermont Commerce and Community Development Secretary Lindsay Kurrle told the Emergency Board.

With legislative approval in hand, the state now plans to spend $7 million to site and purchase new, energy-efficient mobile homes.

Officials estimate sitework, acquisition and placement should cost about $130,000 per unit. Program participants will be required to purchase the homes, but officials say that available finance assistance could bring the cost of a mortgage as low as $55,000. Money from each home’s purchase will be reinvested into a fund, managed by the Vermont State Housing Authority, to continue acquiring and siting new homes.

The “Rapid Response Mobile Home Infill Program” could have 15 units ready within 12 weeks, according to state officials, and 100 new homes in place by next June. In total, Kurrle said the state hopes to create roughly 250 new units over the next few years.

Last year, the state created the Business Emergency Gap Assistance Program to help businesses, landlords and nonprofits recover from 2023’s historic mid-summer flood. The Emergency Board also signed off Thursday on Scott’s request to top off an updated version of that program with another $7 million. Grants will be capped at $100,000, and businesses will be able to request reimbursement for up to 30% of their uncovered losses.

Officials will set aside 10% of the funds for BIPOC-owned businesses, and 40% for farms.

Agriculture Secretary Anson Tebbetts said in an interview Thursday that 79 farms so far have reported a total of $4.3 million in damage from last month’s storms. Two-thirds of the affected farmers don’t have crop or livestock insurance, the secretary said.

These grants will be “helpful,” Tebbetts said, although he acknowledged they would not make farmers whole.

“It gives them a chance to live another day,” he said.

Also last year, the state moved $10 million initially earmarked for weatherization into a new program aimed at helping flood-impacted Vermonters replace damaged appliances with energy-efficient alternatives. Only a little over $2 million of that has been spent, Public Services Commissioner June Tierney told the Emergency Board, who gave her the authority to make this year’s flood survivors eligible for the program as well.

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