Agency leaders told the Senate Economic Development, Housing & General Affairs Committee on Jan. 17 that Vermont faces a significant affordability gap and previewed an imminent set of analytic releases and policy steps aimed at increasing housing supply.

Commissioner Alex Farrell of the Department of Housing and Community Development said the department "will be publishing our housing targets, which is an annex to the housing needs assessment" on Monday, and that the state will also launch a new housing-in-Vermont dashboard to track production and needs.

Why it matters: Committee members were shown data the agencies say illustrate the gap between household earnings and home prices, a mismatch the agencies framed as a constraint on workforce recruitment and retention.

Key figures presented

- Demographics and earnings: Kurley and Goldstein cited Vermont Department of Taxes W-2 data showing about 66% of Vermonters earned $50,000 or less in 2023; roughly a quarter earned between $50,000 and $100,000; about 8% earned over $100,000. Kurley also cited a decline of about 28,000 residents aged 40–54 from 2010 to 2022.

- Housing prices and affordability: Kurley said median listing prices in 2023 were roughly $590,000 in Chittenden County and $320,000 in Essex County. Median family income figures cited were $76,000 in Chittenden County and $47,000 in Essex County. Kurley said, using VHFA’s affordability calculation, Essex County was the only county where a household at the median income could afford the median-priced home.

Programs, pipeline and constraints

- VHIP and pipeline: Farrell and staff discussed the Vermont Housing Investment/Implementation Program (VHIP) pipeline; Farrell said VHIP’s active projects total roughly 1,000 units with about $37 million invested but indicated "VHIP's out of money" and that demand exceeds available funds.

- Homes for All toolkit and by-right development: Farrell described "Homes for All," a design toolkit aimed at small-scale infill (1–4 units, ADUs, duplexes) and a planned training cohort for small developers. He said later phases aim to encourage municipal preapproval of designs to speed construction and, in some cases, allow duplexes and ADUs to be build "by right" in certain zones.

- Omnibus housing bill: Farrell said the administration planned to announce an omnibus housing bill on Tuesday (announcement) and expected introduction later in the week; Max Krieger (general counsel) was identified as assisting final work on the bill.

- Repair, conversions and brownfields: Staff described high demand for the state's home-improvement/repair programs and commercial-to-residential conversions. Goldstein and Farrell discussed brownfields redevelopment as a necessary — but sometimes costly — route to adding housing, noting remedial costs can spike if contaminants such as PFAS are found and that corrective-action plans set remediation scope and cost.

Committee questions and context

Senators raised questions about income measures (W-2 versus adjusted gross income), incentives that shape local growth decisions (Act 60 and local tax structure), and whether municipal zoning and infrastructure (water/sewer) are barriers to faster production. Goldstein and Kurley said additional demographic and AGI data could be provided and reiterated the need to pair housing production with strategies to grow higher-paying jobs.

What was not decided

No formal votes or statutory changes were adopted during the briefing. The omnibus bill was previewed but not yet introduced; funding details will come in subsequent budget proposals.

Next steps

Farrell and other staff said they will release housing targets and a public dashboard; agencies signaled they will return with more detailed program budgets and pipeline updates ahead of the bill introduction.

Ending: Senators asked ACCD and DHCD to return with the housing targets, dashboard and additional fiscal details to inform deliberations on the proposed omnibus housing package.