Last legislative biennium, lawmakers passed two groundbreaking policies to make it easier to build housing in smart locations, while continuing to protect our critical natural resources: Act 250 Modernization (Act 181) and the HOME Act. During the upcoming biennium, the Vermont Legislature will be implementing the suite of impactful changes adopted last year to our state’s cornerstone land use law, Act 250. We plan to continue our advocacy for the implementation of smart growth principles throughout this process, balancing the urgent need to address Vermont’s housing crisis with the critical need to protect the natural resources that maintain healthy forests and wildlife, maintain clean air, protect our waters, build flood resilience, provide wildlife habitat, and sequester and store carbon.
Governor Scott is calling to undermine the thoughtful balance achieved in recent legislation, and instead remove the core protections for our natural resources while allowing poorly planned development to spread across the state. VNRC will be working hard to ensure any housing policies adopted this year embody smart growth principles. The recently enacted laws are already working to jumpstart housing development and better protect critical natural resources, and we will advocate to defend this progress while welcoming new, innovative solutions to the many intersecting crises we face in Vermont today from housing to affordability to climate. Further, we commonly hear that costs are a more important driver than regulations in terms of deterring new housing development, so we support investing in programs that will help make housing more affordable to build and live in.
Specifically, our 2025 smart growth housing priorities include:
- Ensuring that any new housing policies will maintain Vermont’s longstanding commitment to smart growth development, where we can make it easier to build housing in well-planned locations, and continue to protect our forests, farms and other critical resources.
- Supporting increased investments in programs like the Vermont Housing and Conservation Board, Downtown & Village Tax Credits, infill development, brownfield development, and more.
Read more about our work to promote sustainable community development here.