Nimbyism is one of the top two or three causes of this, for sure. Boomers pulled up the ladder on a lot of stuff.

Affordable on a median Vermont wage would be a good measure. I think most federal agencies use 30% of gross income.

We're not, we're just telling you how much you have to pay in taxes. If it's too much you'd be free to sell.

This is where VT is at. We should not cater to wealthy outsiders and end up with no workforce as result of it.

The comment above was about whether or not people come to the state and can be housed right away. They can, if there is space. I would imagine in the summer a room is available right away. In the winter, it's not. I promise you i know more about this program than you do.

There may not be a room available for you but you could be eligible on your first day in Vermont. My source is DCFS publicly available rules

Nothing about this is true. We have had an unhoused person freeze to death in Vermont in many many years. People can come to Vermont and be eligible for housing that day. That is a fact whether or not you choose to believe it. I'm not sure you understand what a durational residency requirement is but we do not have them.

You're missing the point. There is no rule that bars people new to the state from housing. Whether or not there is availability is totally different.

I also work with the homeless population

It's both. And the nimbyism isn't always "locals".

Whoops, my bad. That is a big difference.

Edit, we totally agree, I read your post wrong.

What's happening here is gentrification just like in a big city. Locals out, New Jersey money in. Sorry we're sick of it.

They are, actually. We're filling up with people from NJ and MA who aren't coming here to work, they're coming here to work remotely or spend their parents money or both. Their answer to our 0.00000001% vacancy rate is build, build, build.

That first paragraph is the story of VT. Chittenden County is already NJ North, only a matter of time before the rest of the state is too.

I disagree on one point. We need to build workforce housing. We don't need to build remote worker housing, but we need young people working here if the state has any hope of being livable, which it probably doesn't.

It's total horseshit. We would have tourism without second homes. Maybe we'd lose some tourism but we'd be better off because we'd maybe gain workforce housing. Way back when I worked in a tourist industry in Burlington. 20 years ago. SO MANY QUEBECOIS. They're going to keep coming no matter what.

Just a few bad apples, right?

Maybe sell your other fucking house? Jesus.

Lol. I have an advanced degree and a good job. The cost of housing in VT is completely divorced from wages in VT. We're trying to fix it. One of the fixes is making homes available for residents. Deal with it.

Jesus. It's reddit. Get over yourself for fucks sake.

"I'd argue a significant..." is not a meaningful statistic, and the state doesn't live to serve you and will be fine without you.

Good fucking christ rich people are the worst.

Dude, seriously. I don't care. People who have enough money to have a second home in VT are a tiny percentage. The vast majority of tourists don't own second homes here. We would still have tourists without second homes, this argument is just stupid.

30k seems very high, and pretty arbitrary and pretty pulled out of your ass.

I really don't care what you think, honestly.

If you think people are happy to work minimum wage jobs with no benefits, instead of having available housing that's great. Good for you.

Most people in VT don't work in tourism. We can't hire teachers at the moment because we don't have housing. If we lost second homes, people would still come. Not a problem.

I don't see the connection. Housing would be more attainable.

Tourism jobs don't pay livable wages anyway and soon there won't be anyone to fill them.

Lol. OK. I have a job. I don't want a remote job, that sounds miserable. I'd rather live and work in my community.

I don't necessarily want to lose tourism. I'm fine with people not being able to afford a second home here. Most of the tourism in Burlington comes from Quebec. They aren't going to stop coming. If we lost the NJ/NYC/MA crowd and gained workforce housing, that would be a win for the state.

As an nonresident, you seem to be missing that VT does whatever it can to fight sprawl. That's why we have open land. Most of us want real jobs, not jobs waiting on rich people.

Any place that has an economy based on one industry is in bad shape. VT would do well to stop worrying about outside money and start worrying about its residents while it still has some left.

VT should be taxing second homes to the point where they are just not affordable and people are forced to sell. Way too many people here don't have one home. It's a bit greedy to have seconds while some people are still hungry.

It's going to be "stuff the poors (locals) in shitty condos in Williston and leave the pristine areas for the fresh arrivals from Jersey." No thanks. I personally am leaving as soon as I can because I have no interest in being one of the last people working here, trying to do 3 people's jobs while living in a ratty apartment.

Want to know why families are homeless? I'm a single guy with an advanced degree and a decent job. I'm stuck in a shit apartment because there's absolutely no where to move to. Instead of my shit apartment going to a young single mom or someone exiting homelessness, it's being occupied by me so that rich people can live on a few acres.

The future of VT is one of a bunch of old rich people unable to even buy groceries because there's no one here to sell them to them.