Poll summary

What do Vermonters think about housing development?

The Vermont Housing Awareness Campaign surveyed 300 Vermonters on a variety of issues related to our state's housing crunch and how to develop more housing. Support for developing more housing was very strong. Here is a sample of what they said:

51% of the people we talked to have lived in their present communities 20 years or longer; 74% have lived in Vermont 20 years or longer.
44.8% believe lack of housing is a "very important" or "somewhat important" issue in their home communities, and 79% believe Vermont as a whole is facing a "severe shortage of affordable housing," and that "action must be taken" to correct this.
65% believe housing is a critical economic issue for Vermont.
62% believe the state should increase funding for housing.
65% believe housing development will bring families and children into their towns, resulting in greater school needs and taxes, but 66% said that would be a benefit to their communities.
67% believe their communities should look at their local permitting processes and develop other tools for encouraging housing.
76% believe Vermont needs to develop housing in ways that does not create sprawl.
84% believe Vermont should develop more affordable housing; there was particularly strong support for single-family housing, housing for seniors, and creation of apartments in downtowns.
There was strong support for housing development across all demographic lines, including political affiliation (63% of the sample described themselves as "conservative" or "moderate").