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A new report is warning that Vermont needs to create 7,000 new homes each year for the next 25 years to keep up with the demand for housing, for a total goal of 172,000 new units by 2050.

“We have got to pick up the pace,” said Commissioner Alex Farrell of the Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD), which created the report in collaboration with the Vermont Association of Planning and Development Agencies and the Vermont Housing Finance Agency. “These targets reinforce what we already know: we are not adding new homes fast enough to meet current demand, let alone even modest growth.”

The Burlington Free Press reports the statewide record for homebuilding was 4,800 in 1988, while the historic low was 1,300 permits in 2011. For the 10 years from 2010 to 2020, Vermont’s housing stock only increased by an average rate of 0.4%, or roughly 1,178 homes per year – the slowest annual rate of home development for the state since 1950-1960.

Due to its slow pace of homebuilding, Vermont’s housing stock is among the nation’s oldest, which contributes to low vacancy rates and a quick turnover of homes for both buyers and renters. Complicating matters is the prevalence of seasonal and other secondary use homes in Vermont – more than 15% of all homes in the state (about 50,000) are identified as seasonal homes.

Photo: Ken Lund / Flickr Creative Commons