This story, by Report for America corps member Carly Berlin, was produced through a partnership between VTDigger and Vermont Public.

A new pro-housing advocacy group has entered the scene at the Vermont Statehouse. Their message: Vermont needs to build, build, build, or else the state’s housing deficit will pose an existential threat to its future economy. 

Let’s Build Homes announced its launch at a Tuesday press conference in Montpelier. While other housing advocacy groups have long pushed for affordable housing funding, the group’s dedicated focus on loosening barriers to building housing for people at all income levels is novel. Its messaging mirrors that of the nationwide YIMBY (or “Yes in my backyard”) movement, made up of local groups spanning the political spectrum that advocate for more development.  

“If we want nurses, and firefighters, and child care workers, and mental health care workers to be able to live in this great state – if we want vibrant village centers and full schools – adding new homes is essential,” said Miro Weinberger, former mayor of Burlington and the executive chair of the new group’s steering committee.

Let’s Build Homes argues that Vermont’s housing shortage worsens many of the state’s other challenges, from an overstretched tax base to health care staffing woes. A Housing Needs Assessment conducted last year estimates that Vermont needs between 24,000 and 36,000 year-round homes over the next five years to return the housing market to a healthy state – to ease tight vacancy rates for renters and prospective homebuyers, mitigate rising homelessness, and account for shifting demographics. To reach those benchmarks, Vermont would need to double the amount of new housing it creates each year, the group’s leaders said.  

If Vermont fails to meet that need, the stakes are dire, said Maura Collins, executive director of the Vermont Housing Finance Agency.

“It will not be us who live here in the future – it will not be you and I. Instead, Vermont will be the playground of the rich and famous,” Collins warned. “The moderate income workers who serve those lucky few will struggle to live here.” 

The coalition includes many of the usual housing players in Vermont, from builders of market-rate and affordable housing, to housing funders, chambers of commerce and the statewide public housing authority. But its tent extends even wider, with major employers, local colleges and universities, and health care providers among its early supporters.

Its leaders emphasize that Vermont can achieve a future of “housing abundance” while preserving Vermont’s character and landscape. 

The group intends to maintain “a steady presence” in Montpelier, Weinberger said, as well as at the regional and local level. A primary goal is to give public input during a statewide mapping process that will determine the future reach of Act 250, Vermont’s land-use review law, Weinberger said. 

Let’s Build Homes also wants lawmakers to consider a “housing infrastructure program,” Weinberger said, to help fund the water, sewer and road networks that need to be built in order for housing development to be possible. 

Anna Noonan, CEO of Central Vermont Medical Center, speaks during a press conference convened by Let’s Build Homes, a new pro-housing advocacy organization, at the Statehouse in Montpelier on Tuesday, Jan. 14. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDigger

The group plans to focus on reforming the appeals process for new housing, curtailing a system that allows a few individuals to tank housing projects that have broad community buy-in, Weinberger said. Its policy platform also includes a call for public funding to create permanently affordable housing for low-income and unhoused people, as well as addressing rising construction costs “through innovation, increased density, and new investment in infrastructure,” according to the group’s website.

The Vermont Housing Finance Agency is currently serving as the fiscal agent for the group as it forms; the intent is to ultimately create an independent, nonprofit advocacy organization, Weinberger said. Let’s Build Homes has raised $40,000 in pledges so far, he added, which has come from “some of the large employers in the state and philanthropists.” Weinberger made a point to note that “none of the money that this organization is going to raise is coming from developers.”

Other members of the group’s steering committee include Collins, Vermont Gas CEO Neale Lunderville, and Alex MacLean, former staffer of Gov. Peter Shumlin and current communications lead at Leonine Public Affairs. Corey Parent, a former Republican state senator from St. Albans and a residential developer, is also on the committee, as is Jak Tiano, with the Burlington-based group Vermonters for People Oriented Places. Jordan Redell, Weinberger’s former chief of staff, rounds out the list.

Signatories for the coalition include the University of Vermont Health Network, the Vermont League of Cities and Towns, Middlebury College, Green Mountain Power, Beta Technologies, and several dozen more. Several notable individuals have also signed onto the platform, including Alex Farrell, the commissioner of the Department of Housing and Community Development, and two legislators, Rep. Abbey Duke, D-Burlington, and Rep. Herb Olson, D-Starksboro.