Rutland Herald posts article on importance of affordable housing,
Perhaps the most prominent initiative proposed is that state-owned land should be available to private developers to build affordable housing with no requirement for perpetual affordability. The secretary of commerce and community development is traveling the state asking, “Could you buy your house again at today’s values?” What he fails to admit is that giving state-owned land to for-profit developers with no mechanism to ensure permanent affordability will prevent families who buy those homes today from being able to buy their homes again at future values. Vermont’s current policy approach ensures that the homes we’re creating with public housing resources are affordable to low- and moderate-income families today and into the future.
The governor is right to recommend that “additional resources be provided to affordable housing development,” but his policies generate few new resources. With new and better tools, both our nonprofit and for-profit developers could produce more affordable units. Here are some better ways to increase our supply of affordable housing: