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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.

State Policy Update

May 4, 2026

The legislative session is, despite all the pomp and circumstance, finding its way to some sort of conclusion. The budget has now passed both chambers and a conference committee has started meeting to work out differences. Priority bills are being finalized and moving ahead while other bills have hit a wall with no pathway forward. There are loud grumblings and numerous news stories (see “State News” below) of a Governor and Legislature impasse around education finance reform and a threat of an FY27 budget veto. There is no clear pathway yet. We shall see what the next two weeks will bring… 

This update is long, so jump down to a specific bill if you need a quick read. 
 
Before we get to HHAV biz, I thought I’d share a bit of inspiration. The House starts its floor session with a devotional that is meant to infuse some humaneness into the wonky world of law making. This ranges from a moment of silence, poetry, songs, or reflections. On Tuesday, Representative Angela Arsenault’s husband and daughter performed this touching cover of a Daniel Johnston song. Click here to listen and watch this performance. It was a much needed moment of tenderness and love amidst all of the tension and noise surrounding the session and our current global condition. It stuck with me all week and I hope you find some connection and inspiration in the performance as I did.  

Upcoming Events/Announcements 

  • The FY27 Housing Opportunity Program (HOP) grant Notice of Funding Opportunity is now available. Grant applications are due at 4pm May 13, 2026. This is an opportunity to apply for funds to grow shelter capacity and prevent a disruption in other services in State Fiscal Year 2027. Outside of shelter, this will be a renewal funding announcement only. Click here for grant details, materials, webinar slides/recordings.
  • 2026 Statewide Housing Conference…Save the date for November, 18, 2026 at the DoubleTree Conference Center in South Burlington. HHAV is on this year’s planning committee. More details here.
  • Job posting: Vermont Community Loan Fund is seeking a Director of Housing & Community Facilities Programs. Job posting and details here. 

State Policy Updates 

Here again is our 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. 

  • Qualified Action Plan (QAP). HHAV has been very engaged in member conversations and comments for the 2027-2028 draft QAP process over the last several weeks. The QAP is a critical guide to allocating federal and state resources (specifically, federal and state housing tax credits, often times the most significant component of funding/financing affordable housing development). It is updated every one/two years. This year’s draft includes significant changes. HHAV provided some high-level feedback/comments, which can be found here. 
  • FY27 budget “Big Bill” (H.951). This past week, the FY27 budget passed the Senate and is now starting the conference committee process (made up of six members, three from each house and senate appropriations committees). The senate made numerous changes, including changing the construct of the property tax buy down. All of HHAV priorities that were in the house-passed budget remain, with some additions/changes. A summary of the base appropriations changes can be found here. A summary of the one-time appropriations can be found here and a full list can be found here.
    • $82.6M to support VT’s homelessness response system (see update for H.938 below) made up of base, federal and one-time appropriations. The house-passed budget had line-items for specific one-time investments. The senate collapsed them into one line item (B.1100(c)1) for a total of $21.18M in one-time funding. The goal is for this one-time amount be further refined in H.938 as part of the “expenditure” section of the bill (section 14). The total one-time amount has not/will not change. 
    • Affordable Housing funding. Full statutory funding for VHCB through PTT ($36.4M). 
    • Medicaid-funded developmental disabilities housing. Section C.107 updates FY24 appropriations language directing VHCB to invest up to $10M in shelter and affordable housing development. This new language gives VHCB the authority to also use funds to create housing for individuals eligible to receive Medicaid-funded developmental disabilities services. This was prompted by HUD changes to what types of shelters could be funded. 
    • $1M for VSHA rental arrears (eviction prevention) that was proposed as part of H.772 
    • $800K for the Manufactured Housing Improvement Program (MHIR) 
    • $200K for End Homelessness Vermont 
    • $240K for HomeShare Vermont
    • $235K for CVOEO’s Day Shelter (cut in half from House-passed budget) 
    • $100K for Land Use Review Board (LURB) public engagement (support for S.325) 
    • First Generation Homebuyer Program. Adds $100k for this existing program administered by VHFA (B.1100(f)3). 
    • Housing Voucher Contingency Fund. The FY26 Budget Adjustment Act (BAA) included language creating a critical rental assistance contingency fund to mitigate ongoing underfunding from the federal government. The fund will be administered by VSHA in conjunction with DCF. Because HUD has not yet provided amounts to states for this coming year’s allocations, the fund is not yet able to be set up and put into practice. Language was added to the bill that updates the timing of the fund creation. 
    • FY27 “Contingency Transactions” As is customary, the budget includes a list of “contingencies” if funds remain or the state sees excess revenue. Section B.1101(b)4 (page 106) includes language directing the state to spend $30M on numerous things including federal fund shortfalls, property tax relief and “permanent housing initiatives.” It is unlikely this will materialize, but could be an avenue for advocating for affordable housing development in the FY27 BAA. A summary of the contingencies can be found here. 
    • A one-time $4M renter credit (tax expenditure) was added to the H.933 (Miscellaneous Tax Bill) and considered as part of the budget construct. This is in H.951, Section B.138 and language added in the E Section (page 145). 
  • H.938 Vermont Homelessness Response Continuum bill. After passing the full house in March, this bill sat doormat for several weeks with little work being done. HHAV briefly testified in Senate Health & Welfare on April 15, along with several other advocates. The committee is just now starting to review and make changes to the bill and is scheduled to work on all this week, with a vote scheduled for May 8. So far, minor changes have been made including removing the Permeant Supportive Housing (PSH) level and making this a stand-alone component of the continuum (which we support) along with asking AHS to demonstrate how the cap on hotel/motel nights is arrived at. It appears the committee is poised to further amend the bill and work to pass this week. Please note the changes within the FY27 budget to collapse the line item one-time investments into one. There appears to be room to adjust the expenditure section of H.938 focused on these one-time amounts. HHAV plans to be in the committee advocating for our proposed changes to the bill. We submitted a follow-up memo with a list of our proposed amendment priorities here. 
  • H.772, landlord/tenant bill (this is a proposed amendment by Senate Judiciary that significantly scales down the scope of the bill). As passed by the House, this bill proposes significant changes to current rental agreement notices and court processes with the stated goal of speeding up the eviction process in a number of circumstances including for safety reasons (as advocated for by our non-profit housing network) and providing some minor protections and eviction prevention supports for tenants. HHAV testified in support of two provisions advocated by our non-profit housing members (expedited notice for safety related activity and allowing landlord to obtain a no trespass order to a tenant’s guest if the guest violates the rental agreement) as well as several other tenant protections and investments. Senate Judiciary’s amendment that shrinks the scope of these changes, includes a report (page 28) proposing the creation of a statewide housing court. HHAV still has concerns over the broad impact of speeding up evictions for tenants, including the unrealistic implementation of these changes by the bills effective date of July 1, 2026 (the current Judiciary amendment pushes this back to September 1, 2026) and, supports focused, incremental updates that support houser efforts to protect tenant safety and centers tenant protections. We expect the Senate Judiciary committee to finish work on this bill early this week when it will then head to the Senate Economic Development/Housing committee.  
  • H.775 (House housing bill)/S.328 (Senate housing bill). Both of these bills include numerous housing-related programs/provisions including service-supported housing advisory council to advising housing creation for those with developmental disabilities, proposed increase in the amount the Treasurer’s office can loan as part of the “10% for VT” program (raising to 12.5%), off-site housing manufacturing accelerator program to address the cost of housing development, VHIP annual reporting on the impact of these investments once the forgivable loans mature, municipal bonding for housing, updates to municipal plans and zoning for housing development, common-interest community (ex: HOAs), farmworker housing report. Senate Economic Development Committee’s proposed changes to H.775 (see yellow highlights in the link above) includes VHFA’s Rental Revolving Loan Fund (RLF) and further language changes to the VT Economic Development Authority’s (VEDA) statute allowing them to finance specific housing developments. House General already passed S.328 and it now sits in House Ways/Means. It is unclear how the bills will proceed, if H.775 will move or S.328. 
  • H.933, miscellaneous tax bill. This bill passed the Senate, with amendments, and 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. It now moves back to the House and it is unclear if it will go to a conference committee. 
  • S.325, updates to Act 181/land use reform. After passing the Senate in March with minor tweaks to Act 181, House Environment Committee made significant changes to the bill after major public outcry, specifically: repealing the road-rule and implementation of Tiers 2 and 3 areas (sections 1-4); extends housing development exemptions in certain areas until January 1, 2028 (section 6); adds a public engagement plan (section 9) and creates a Joint Environmental Oversight Committee to look for ways to improve state permitting processes and timelines (section 10). Here is a section-by-section summary of the bill and Fiscal Note. HHAV supported member testimony two weeks ago asking for a very focused amendment that would exempt MHCs from needing an Act 250 permit if an existing infrastructure improvement project had already done a National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA) review.   We also asked for MHCs to be automatically eligible for Tier 1B (land adequate for moderate housing development growth) if a municipality opts in to this mapped tier. The bill, as amended, would not immediately address our request, but attempts to systematically make improvements over a longer-term. 
  • Fair Share Vermont. HHAV officially joined the campaign in March. We sent out an action alert in April asking members to encourage legislators to support a House Ways/Means committee bill that would add a new tax bracket on high-income earners and increased taxes on investment income. This bill did not make it out of the committee. HHAV will continue to participate in this coalition as the session continues and into the off-season.  

Federal Update 

  • US Housing & Urban Development (HUD) Continuum of Care (CoC) Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) process. In March, the courts upheld a preliminary injunction stopping HUD from implementing it’s CoC NOFO announced in December. HUD  plans to post  the NOFO on May 29, with a closing date of August 26. See here for details. The announcement of the impending NOFO included a description and a link to a message from HUD Secretary Turner here. This will provide some context for the reshaping of the HUD CoC NOFO application goals. See this letter from Congressional Republicans asking HUD to release the NOFO with minimal changes as to not destabilize programs. 
  • Impacts of Build America Buy America (BABA) on housing construction. The New England Housing Network (NEHN) is working with lawmakers and regulators to get an exemption or at the very least a stay (pause) from BABA for housing construction, as the impacts of increased costs on housing production continue to be seen. NEHN members continue to engage with the Office of Management & Budget (OMB) and the Made in America Office (MIAO), including asking the MIAO and Department of Commerce to research/compile a list of all of the housing construction components (thousands) that are not BABA compliant.  
  • Comments and sign on letters to recent HUD rule comment periods. HHAV recently signed on to several letters asking HUD to not make the proposed rule changes to critical housing programs and ensure all eligible households have access to publicly subsidized housing including: 
    • Proposed changes adding work requirements/time-limits to project based rental assistance 
    • Proposed changes to the Equal protection rule on gender identity.  
    • Proposed changed limiting access to housing for mixed household immigrant status households 

State News on Housing & Homelessness 

  • Montpelier’s Country Club Road housing development proposals slowly take shape. VTDigger Article 
  • Education finance reform, property taxes and FY27 state budget
    • Gov and legislature swap threats at impact of not passing ed finance reform or the FY27 state budget. ABC/Fox44 segment; NBC5 segment;  
    • Ed Finance Reform Efforts Appear Stalled in the Statehouse 
    • VT Senate advances property tax bill w/ 3.8% avg increase. Changes House-passed construct from buying down property taxes a little over the next two years to a larger buy down in FY27. VTDigger article 

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