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Dear Fellow Vermonter,
Decent and affordable housing is a human right. Period. But throughout our state, too many Vermonters are being squeezed between stagnating wages and the skyrocketing cost of housing.
Whether it is Burlington, Brattleboro, Saint Johnsbury or Bennington — and all the places in between — the cost of housing is soaring and becoming less and less affordable.
In Vermont, to afford the fair market rent for a two-bedroom apartment, someone working 40 hours a week must earn at least $29.73 an hour, or $61,833 a year. A minimum wage earner must work two jobs — 85 hours every week, 52 weeks a year — just to keep a roof overhead. The median home price in our state is $375,000, which means a family would need an income of more than over $125,000 a year to afford it — not including the enormous burden of a down payment and closing costs.
The rising cost of housing is simply unsustainable and causing enormous pain for working families in Vermont. According to data collected by the state’s point-in-time count and coordinated entry programs, as of June, there were 4,588 homeless Vermonters. More than 1,000 of them — one in five — are children. Unacceptable.
Since my time as mayor of Burlington, I have fought for measures to make housing more affordable. For me, that meant working as mayor to save the Northgate apartments from becoming condominiums and create the Burlington Community Land Trust, now Champlain Housing Trust. In the Senate, I have worked to create — and fund — the National Housing Trust Fund, modeled after CHT, and introduced legislation to create a massive investment in low-income public housing. I believe that, here in Vermont and around the country, we must address this crisis with a fierce sense of urgency.
Housing is one of the major crises facing our state and our country. Unfortunately, we’re not discussing it enough.
Nobody knows more about the housing crisis than people who are experiencing it. I would very much appreciate hearing what you are going through with regard to housing. Please take a few minutes to answer some brief questions so that we can go forward with the best information possible. And keep an eye out for an upcoming edition of the Bernie Buzz where we share these results with you.
Share your thoughts on housing affordability in Vermont by clicking HERE.
Thanks very much. We look forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely,
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