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Housing & Homelessness Alliance of Vermont

The Housing & Homelessness Alliance of Vermont (HHAV) works toward a future in which all people living in Vermont have safe, stable, affordable homes and if homelessness occurs, it is brief, rare, and non-recurring.

Meeting Follow-up & Legislative Update

March Membership Meeting Follow-up 

Please find below an update on some of our state and federal policy priorities as well as follow-up details from our March 10 membership meeting. Our next meeting will beTuesday, April 14 from 9-10:30am via Zoom. Please look for an email alert soon with details and the agenda. 

HHAV Membership 

If you haven’t yet, please do renew your membership or become a new member of HHAV. Click here to review benefits and join. Your membership gives us purpose and direction, and, provides the financial flexibility to advocate on your behalf. Collective action is the best kind of action! 

Homes for All/802 Homes Initiative 

Thank you to Chris and Jeff from DHCD and Ornella and Tay from LAOB for sharing details about Vermont’s efforts to increasing housing across the state through Homes for All/802 Homes. Here are more details. For more information, reach out to:  
Jeff Dube. jeff.dube@vermont.gov 
Tay Margison. t.margison@vhcb.org 

State Policy Update (from March 20) 

We are now officially halfway through the Vermont legislative session. Please find below an update on where we are with the many (and growing!) list of 2026 legislative priorities. Be sure to check out our 2026 Advocacy page that includes all the testimony and memos submitted on behalf of our members. 

  • The 2026 Budget Adjustment Act (BAA), now Act 74, was signed into law in early March this included three of HHAV’s priorities including: the creation of a “Voucher Contingency Fund” administered through VSHA to stop the decrease in critical rental assistance for the lowest income Vermonters (while the final fund did not have a specific dollar amount, VSHA has hired Erhard Mahnke to assist with the coordination of PHA requests that could total more than the proposed $5M); $2.3M for HOP Financial Assistance; Reinstating funds for the Land Access & Opportunity Board (LAOB) to support their new developer seed funding initiative.  
  • The FY27 budget made it through its first step late Friday by earning initial support by the House Appropriations Committee. The committee will take a final vote Monday March 23. It will then move to the full house for vote. There are still several steps to go, but broadly, it includes several HHAV priorities:
    • $82.6M to support VT’s homelessness response system (see update for H.938 below). This includes base funding for HOP, shelter operations and a new rental assistance program through VSHA, as well as one time for shelter development. 
    • $1M for VSHA rental arrears 
    • $800K for the Manufactured Housing Improvement Program (MHIR) 
    • Affordable Housing funding: I will note that while the FY27 budget does include full statutory funding for VHCB through PTT ($36.4M), it does not include any additional one-time funding.  
  • H.938, Vermont Homelessness Response Continuum bill. After a lengthy and contentious start, the committee was able to compromise with the Administration on this bill. It codifies much of VT’s existing homelessness response programs/efforts into state statute and lays out a new “level” framework for preventing, reducing and addressing homelessness. An amendment passed Friday lays out some specific “expenditures” for FY 27 including HOP, shelter expansion, new case management and municipal grants. HHAV Action Committee meets regularly and we will be weighing in again as it moves to the senate. There’s still lots of unanswered questions as to how this new continuum would function and how it differs from what we do now.  
  • H.772, landlord/tenant bill. This bill proposes significant changes to current landlord/tenant law with the stated goal of: speeding up the eviction process in a number of circumstances including for health and safety reasons (as advocated for by our non-profit housing network) and provides some minor protections and eviction prevention supports for tenants. HHAV did testify on this bill early on but has not taken a position as our members are fairly split on this issue. We do have an action committee that is continuing to meet and trying to work towards a compromise. It is unclear if this bill will move out of the house as there are numerous floor amendments being proposed and, to our knowledge, no one really likes the bill…but feels like some action must be taken. 
  • S.328, the senate housing bill. This bill proposed several minor changes to housing policy and programs including setting municipal housing targets, proposing raising the percentage of Vermont’s cash balance that can be used for loans to housing from 10% to 12.5%, adds two positions to the Dept of Housing & Community Development, a report looking at changes to VT’s Common Interest Communities law (AKA, HOAs and Condo Associations), and extends/expands the Downpayment Assistance program (DPA). I will note that all of the programs/proposals that had money in them were stripped out in Senate appropriations (which is customary) and will be considered as part of the budget. This leaves the underlying bill fairly small and inconsequential to HHAV’s priorities. 
  • H.933, miscellaneous tax bill. This bill includes the Downpayment Assistance (DPA) expansion and extension to support low/moderate income Vermonters buying a home through a 0% downpayment/closing cost loan. This is offered through VHFA. 
  • Fair Share Vermont. HHAV officially joined the campaign and will be participating in the coordinating committee efforts moving forward. As we’ve seen over the last few weeks and especially over the past week, we need to raise state revenue in order to pay for the many services, supports and initiatives VT needs, including housing and homelessness. 

Federal Update (from March 10)

April is Fair Housing Month

Fair Housing Month is coming up in April. The 2026 Fair Housing Month theme is Fair Housing: No Matter What! to emphasize the endurance of state and federal fair housing laws and reinforce our duty to take meaningful actions to overcome the legacy of segregation, unequal treatment, and historic lack of access to opportunity in housing. 

April starts off with Fair Housing Awareness Day at the Statehouse April 1 and on April 3 there have a special storytelling event in Burlington. “Stories of Home” is presented in partnership with All Heart Inspirations and there will be good food, drinks, plenty of time and space for people to connect with each other, and opportunities to discuss housing issues and get creative. RSVP and/or sign up to share your story here: https://sevendaystickets.ticketsauce.com/e/stories-of-home-fair-housing-month-kickoff

More info and full calendar of events at: https://fairhousingmonthvt.org/

State News on Housing & Homelessness

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