Vermont’s housing crunch is nothing new. For decades, Vermont has looked for housing solutions to create “perpetual affordability” for our communities. Yet here we are, with rental vacancy rates at 3.4% in VT at large, 1.9% in Chittenden County, and a squeezed 1.5% in Burlington, according to VHFA. More troubling is that 48% of renters in Vermont are cost burdened – paying more than 30% of their income for housing. This is the 12th highest percentage in the nation. And among homeowners, 27% of those with mortgages are cost burdened, the 7th highest percentage in the nation.

How did we get here?

In our latest episode, we examine the history of Community Land Trusts (CLTs) in Vermont, taking some time to contrast policies in the 1980s, the age of Reaganomics, when under Bernie Sanders, Burlington gave the US its first municipality-funded CLT. We examine their legacy, arguing that while CHT was meant to defend affordable housing and radically challenge the capitalist hegemony, it instead operates as a “nickel and dime real estate agency,” a slightly more beneficent landlord, and ultimately an accomplice to gentrification. Their initial mission has been lost in the “unholy alliances” CHT has had to make as it has become part of the landscape of Vermont housing.