Candidate Koch on affordable housing and homelessness

October 25, 2024  |  By Donald Koch 

Vermont has a shortage of housing, and while there are several causes of this shortage,  economists acknowledge that COVID-19 seriously disrupted the housing market. 

Here in Vermont,  we saw an influx of “flatlanders” seeking immediate housing outside population centers, who had large amounts of cash, needed no mortgages, and who consequently drove up the price of housing. Then the Federal Reserve increased interest rates, decreasing demand on the part of buyers who needed mortgages and causing the number of new homes in the “pipeline” to decrease, meaning that there is now a shortage of new housing.  

But there are additional issues as well. Environmental requirements that are stricter than federal requirements; investigations related to historic preservation and archeological studies; and a permitting process that seems to have no end! 

And as for rental real estate, Vermont’s laws are decidedly in favor of the tenant; eviction proceedings seem to take forever, and there are local proposals pending to eliminate so-called “no-fault” evictions. So why is there a shortage of rental housing in Vermont, you ask? Who in his right mind would want to be a landlord in this state? 

The result of all this is that the cost of housing in Vermont has been driven sky-high with new, single-bedroom, government-subsidized housing often exceeding $500,000 per unit! This makes little sense, and there are a few things the legislature can do to fix these problems other than  just throwing money at the problem: 

1. Relax state regulations relating to asbestos and chemicals such as PCBs so they do not exceed federal standards. 

2. Exempt from Act 250 review suburban and rural housing that meets approved local standards, thus providing suburban and rural housing the same treatment that the legislature provided this past session for city and town centers.  

3. Create a special landlord/tenant docket so these cases can proceed through court more efficiently, and make clear that the legislature will not approve any effort to eliminate  “no-fault” evictions. 

4. Encourage rehabilitation of existing housing stock, offering subsidies for such action, but limiting the subsidies so the total cost of construction does not exceed the average cost of non-subsidized construction.

On homelessness

“If you build it they will come.” Some say, “We did, and they did.” Others say that’s not true.

But we don’t know the truth, because there has been no official effort to determine whether the generous benefits offered to the homeless by the State of Vermont have contributed to the fact that Vermont’s percentage of homelessness is the second highest in the country. They say there is no evidence, but there is no evidence unless you choose to look for it, and we have chosen to be voluntarily ignorant. That’s not good policy. 

Let’s consider the causes of homelessness: physical and mental illness, and disability; divorce or death of a partner; drug addiction; loss of employment; eviction from rental housing; choice of a lifestyle; and the list goes on. And let’s attribute to most of those who are homeless the desire to improve their conditions and obtain permanent shelter. Vermonters are generous and compassionate -- we want to help. The question is the best way to help, regardless of a person’s most recent place of residence. 

I submit that simply supplying the homeless with motel rooms or the equivalent, even with an end date, is not an effective way to help. 

What does help is reaching out to each homeless person, determining the cause of that person’s homelessness, taking an inventory of the person’s assets and abilities, learning about the person’s background (including the person’s previous place of residence), and working out a plan for improvement leading to the ability to maintain permanent shelter. Is mental illness a problem?  We have many programs for treatment. What about drug addiction? Vermont has some of the best programs for those who want to ditch drugs. Is a person fleeing domestic violence? Some legal assistance may work. The point is that the state or its partners must get to the root of a person’s homelessness and work with that person to help resolve that person’s problems. I’m sure that such a labor-intensive effort will be more successful and less expensive than just plunking people in motels. 

And for those who seek no help but choose to live without permanent shelter, I say we should respect their choice and not force our “wiser” choices on them, so long as they do not occupy private property without permission or public property to the exclusion of the designated use of that property by others. Communities may, therefore, need to set aside some public lands,  appropriately regulated, for a limited number of “campers.” 

A program like the one outlined here needs to be governed by certain principles. Our intent  is to help those who are able and willing to be helped. Here is one place where we should adhere  to the old adage: “A hand up, not a handout.” 

Barre town resident Donald Koch is a Republican candidate for the Washington state Senate district. Email: KochforVermont@gmail.com. Website is here.