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Governor’s 30% Cut to Affordable Housing
and Conservation
A Radical Shift in Priorities, Not Budget Belt-tightening
At the very time that Vermont needs to
build more affordable housing and conserve important working lands,
natural areas and open spaces, the Governor’s $5.2 million cut
will cause huge losses:
- 150 affordable homes
- 11-12 conserved working farms
- 8-10 community conservation and
historic projects, totaling 2500 acres
- 50 farm conservation projects in the
VHCB grant pipeline are threatened
- Millions in financial leverage for
housing and federal farmland conservation matching funds
Housing and Conservation Fuel Vermont’s Economy
Conserving working farm and forestland, open space, recreational lands,
and natural areas, and building affordable housing stimulates Vermont’s
agriculture, forestry and tourism economy. Vermont's policy of sustained
investment in building permanently affordable housing and saving the
working lands that support our economy has consistently proven its
value. The abrupt decision to abandon this common sense approach to
preserving a Vermont we all can afford and want to live in runs counter
to many officially declared public community priorities, including:
- Farm economy growth
- Permanently affordable family and
workforce housing development
- Tourism and recreation economic
protection
- Long-term budget cost containment
- Clean water and protection of vital
natural resources
- Creating and sustaining viable,
vibrant downtowns and village centers
- Encouraging young Vermonters to
remain in, or return to Vermont
- Promoting economic development by
ensuring affordable housing for employees
- Creating innovative solutions to
housing for those with special needs, many of which stretch the
limited resources of the Agency of Human Services
- Reducing the impact and helping
natural resources adapt to climate change
Conservation is Key to Good Energy Policy:
A major recommendation of the Governor’s Climate Change Report, released
only a few months ago, wisely observed that:
“Central to curbing the state’s
greenhouse gas emissions is the conservation of Vermont’s significant
existing ‘Green Bank’ – our working landscape, our abundant forests, our
maintenance of open land. Indeed, Vermont’s most precious and effective
mechanism for countering climate change is our forested landscape.”
The Commission’s top recommendation urges
the Governor to “protect working farms and forests by pursuing
strategies to reduce the rate at which existing crop, pasture and forest
lands are converted to developed uses.”
VHCB investments are the cornerstone of
the permanent conservation of Vermont’s working lands and natural areas.
Farmers, forest land owners and communities continue to manage their
land privately but sell their development rights and commit to long-term
stewardship of our state’s most valuable natural and economic resources.
Land Conservation is Very Popular
and Strongly Supported All Across Vermont
An overwhelming majority of Vermonters cite the state’s natural
environment and rural characteristics as the top reason for making it a
unique place to live, according to a survey conducted by the University
of Vermont’s Center for Rural Studies for the Vermont Land Trust.
Overall, land conservation and affordable
housing ranked in the top three, along with public education, among the
factors respondents cited as very important to extremely important to
their communities.
Approximately 80 percent said that an end
to land conservation would have a similarly negative impact on Vermont’s
working farms, forests, tourism and recreational areas. 87 percent of
respondents said that Vermont’s natural/wildlife areas would be
susceptible to somewhat or very negative impacts without land
conservation.
Thousands of Affordable Housing
Units Are Needed
According to a Housing Needs Assessment conducted by the Vermont
Department of Housing and Community Affairs, Vermont has a “shortage of
approximately 21,000 units of affordable rental housing.” According to
the State’s Consolidated Plan: “the most important objective for housing
in this Action Plan is to increase the supply of affordable and
workforce housing.” The Vermont Housing and Conservation Board has been
the only source of direct state funding to help meet this overwhelming
need. By funding the efforts of non-profit affordable housing developers
across the state, VHCB has cost-effectively driven the development of
8,500 homes and apartments – homes that stay affordable to Vermonters
forever.
We Can’t Put off this Investment,
the Cost of Waiting is Too High
Significant changes in VHCB’s budget will mean lost opportunities to
attract federal farm land protection dollars, which also support the
Governor’s Clean and Clear initiative. Many farm projects in the
pipeline have been appraised, or are in the midst of contract
discussions and an appraisal process – and in most cases farmers share
in the cost of the appraisal. If funding is delayed, some of these
farmers will need to start the appraisal process over again, given NRCS
rules that require appraisals to be current. Similarly, there are
hundreds of affordable homes in the pipeline that would be jeopardized.
This development leverages substantial private funding and provides jobs
for many Vermonters.
We all agree that we need thousands of
permanently affordable homes. We also all understand that what's here
today, could be gone tomorrow. Lots of our communities’ working farms,
natural areas, community places and historic spaces could be lost
forever in the coming decades.
The VHCB statistics are staggering. In
the past 20 years, VHCB investments in our communities have created more
than 8,500 permanently affordable homes and apartments and conserved
more than 500 farms and 250,000 acres of forests and natural areas. For
two decades, this has all made sense because affordable housing and
conservation have strengthened our communities, conserved our
world-class landscapes and in turn advanced our economic vitality. Now,
many understand that VHCB investments also help us to reduce climate
change.
Governor Douglas’s budget address has
left many wondering why the state of Vermont would make a radical shift
away from one of its greatest success stories?
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