Press: News clips

Housing grows less affordable
By Darren M. Allen
Vermont Press Bureau

MONTPELIER—The cost of buying or renting a place to live in Vermont continued to escalate last year, a trend that housing advocates said Wednesday can only be slowed by a sharp increase in housing.

"Unfortunately, we did not find a lot of new news in this year's study," said Sarah Carpenter, executive director of the Vermont Housing Finance Agency who released the latest edition of "Between A Rock and A Hard Place: Housing and Wages in Vermont" (368kb; PDF) during a Statehouse press conference.

The annual report found that the cost of a typical Vermont home climbed to $182,000, up 10 percent from a year before and 87 percent since 1996.

The report said that Vermonters' ability to afford such a house also slipped last year. To afford a typical house, a family would have to have an income of $65,000, a figure not reached by nearly three-fourths of all households in the state.

The report also noted an increase in the amount it takes to afford a typical monthly rent, which jumped to an average of $723 for a "modest" two-bedroom apartment in 2005 — a boost of nearly 30 percent since 1996.

Statewide, a household would have to have an hourly wage of nearly $14 — or about $29,000 a year — to afford a typical monthly rent, nearly $1,000 higher than the year before.

That so-called housing wage varied across the state. In Washington County, the report said, a renter would need to earn $13.15 an hour; in Lamoille County, $12.52; and in Orange County, $12.54.

The highest such wage was in Chittenden County, at $15.92; the lowest was in the Northeast Kingdom county of Orleans, at $9.92.

The report underscored what housing advocates have long said is a shortage of affordable housing. But this year, the report was greeted with interest by the business community and Gov. James Douglas, who has staked out affordability as his election-year legislative theme.

"This report again confirms my view of our housing crisis," the governor said in a statement. "Unless we address this problem now, the dream of owning a home in our state for the average Vermonter could slip away within a generation."

The report said that the single biggest problem in Vermont is a lack of supply. Indeed, the vacancy rate for owner-occupied homes was less than 1 percent, the fourth-lowest level in the country. Fewer than 5 percent of the state's rental units were vacant last year, the lowest rate in the country.

The one community that saw a significant boost in home construction, South Burlington, actually saw a drop in the cost of a typical home last year, the report said.

"This is a glimmer of hope," Carpenter said. "There is a solution if we get aggressive about building.
To do that, communities need to think hard about adopting zoning policies that allow for denser development, said Sen. James Condos, D-Chittenden, who also happens to be chairman of the South Burlington City Council.

"We've accomplished a lot, but there's a lot more to be done," he said. "Increased zoning density is the one thing that cities and towns have control over that will have an impact on housing."

It isn't only housing advocates who are worried about the increasing costs of shelter: the state's business community is beginning to point to the housing shortage as a drain on the economy.

"This report makes clear that the lack of available and affordable housing is a threat to the economy of the state of Vermont," said Sen. Vincent Illuzzi, R-Essex/Orleans. "It's an iceberg, it's a danger sign."

Contact Darren Allen at darren.allen@rutlandherald.com.