Press: Press releases

HOUSING COSTS PUTTING MORE PRESSURE
ON VERMONT FAMILIES AND BUSINESSES

MONTPELIER--Vermont's housing shortage continues to drive up rents and home prices, hurting the state's families, businesses and economy, according to a report released today by the Housing Council and the Vermont Housing Awareness Campaign.

The new report, "Between a Rock and a Hard Place: Housing and Wages in Vermont," is the third in an annual series of studies of the gap between housing costs and wages in Vermont.

"Our housing problem isn't going away, in fact, with costs rising so much faster than wages, it's getting worse," said Gus Seelig, director of the Vermont Housing and Conservation Board. "We are not building enough homes ordinary Vermonters can afford. And as this problem grows larger, we may not have the resources we need to deal with it.

"This problem hits low- and moderate-income Vermonters the hardest," Seelig added, "but we're seeing its impact across the economic scale. It's become everyone's issue. When thousands of Vermonters who work in jobs that are vital to our communities cannot afford to live in those communities, it affects us all."

Some of the report's findings include:

• From 1996 to 2003, the median purchase price of a home in Vermont has jumped nearly 54 percent, from $97,500 to $150,000. From 2002 to 2003 alone, the increase was nearly 11 percent.
• From 1996 to 2004, the Fair Market Rent of a modest two-bedroom apartment rose nearly 28 percent, from $561 to $717 a month.
• Meanwhile, Vermonters' incomes have increased by about 20 percent since 1996.
• Vermont's "housing wage" -- the income needed to afford the Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom apartment while working 40 hours a week and paying no more than 30 percent of household income for rent and utilities -- has risen to $13.78 per hour. But 61 percent of Vermont workers -- 156,000 people -- are employed in jobs with median wages below $13.78 per hour.
• Forty-nine percent of Vermont households who rent are paying more than 30 percent of their incomes for rent.

"This report points up two major challenges facing Vermont," said John Hall, Commissioner of Housing and Community Affairs. "We need to create more good-paying jobs and we need to build more affordable housing. The two go hand-in-hand. These issues are key to preserving the quality of life that is so important to Vermonters."

The report finds much of Vermont's housing development is occurring at the upper end of the market, rather than at a level affordable to most Vermonters. In 2003, the median new home sales price was $265,000, a level far out of reach for the typical Vermont household. In fact, only 6 percent of the new homes sold in Vermont in 2003 were within the reach of a Vermont household earning the state’s median income.

The report also notes Vermont's housing shortage is a problem for businesses who want to hire more workers as they grow. In some cases, Vermont's high housing costs have made it hard for businesses to fill even senior staff positions.

Seelig, Commissioner Hall and others noted that long-anticipated reforms to Vermont's permitting process -- both at the local and state level -- may help the situation, but permit reform itself will not solve the housing shortage.

"Every community across Vermont needs to be thinking about how to build more housing," said Rep. Johannah Donovan, D-Burlington, who chairs the Legislature's Joint Housing Committee. "We know housing strengthens communities, creates jobs and provides an economic boost. We need to provide more incentives to housing development and remove unnecessary obstacles, and we need to provide more funding for affordable housing."

© 2002-2008 Vermont Housing Awareness Campaign. All rights reserved.
Contact: info@housingawareness.org