Every Vermonter deserves a decent place to call home. While our current Governor wants cuts in funding for affordable housing, I want to make a major investment in building homes while creating jobs for Vermonters.

Under the current Governor’s “affordability agenda” more of us find a new home less affordable and the average Vermont family cannot afford the average Vermont home. The median price of a Vermont home doubled from 1996 to 2008.* Wages and income clearly did not. A family needs income of $65,000, plus cash for a down payment to buy the average Vermont home. But, most Vermonters make less than that and saving for a down payment is unrealistic. Renters face a similar struggle.

We need more than 13,000 affordable owner-occupied homes and more than 20,000 affordable rental units right now in Vermont. But, believe it or not, my opponent proposed cuts in support for affordable housing this year. That is just wrong. 

As Governor, I will invest $20 million over 4 years to build affordable housing and build jobs at the same time.

I will bring together Vermont architects, planners, energy experts and others and challenge them to design the model “VermontHome” and a sustainable “VermontHome Community,” – a new kind of home and housing development. Designed for our environment, it will be as energy efficient as possible, use renewable power and have a flexible, family-friendly floor plan.

To support our needed investment in housing and jobs we will close a major Vermont tax loophole. Vermont now taxes wages more than it taxes profits from the sale of stocks, bonds and other investments. So, if you earn wages of $50,000 working on Main Street you pay more tax than someone who makes $50,000 on Wall Street. Most agree this capital gains tax loophole should be closed, bringing in over $20 million a year – money we can invest in Vermont.

Investing $5 million a year for four years, building affordable homes and creating jobs for Vermonters will help strengthen our families and our local economy. 

* I credit the Vermont Housing Finance Agency for some of the information cited here. Please see its 2008 report ‘Between a Rock and a Hard Place - Housing and Wages in Vermont.’ http://www.vhfa.org/resources/publications.php