Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

1T-Nerd t1_j9peebg wrote

It will be interesting to see the qualifications for the "Missing Middle-Income Homeownership Development Program" and how the vetting process would work. Although the same could be said for any of the proposals highlighted in the article.

My initial concerns with this one here is the targeted townships for this 90 million dollar project. I've not yet dug into it but am curious if the Vermont senate is also targeting legislation to curtail STR as this seems like a huge contributor to the housing crisis going on here.

​

I think the bills worthwhile fundamentally but it needs to be done in lockstep with curtailing STR running rampant across the state.

9

hsrahmas t1_j9q75oi wrote

Just eliminating STR's will not be enough to address the housing shortage because there are not enough single family houses to fill the shortage.

Revising zoning so developers can build something other than single family neighborhoods will help address the issue much better in the long term.

6

1T-Nerd t1_j9q7vau wrote

I'm not suggesting that at all. The point I am making is that in addition to revising zoning considerations you must also impose some form of legislation like is being done in tourist towns out in Colorado to mitigate STR.

Edit: My own neighborhood has 12 single family homes. Since Covid the number of STR has gone from 2 to 5 of the 12 total houses. One of which was formerly a single family for a long term renter who had to move due to the house being sold to someone who turned it into an STR.

6

No-Ganache7168 t1_j9qrp6a wrote

What’s more, there is nothing stopping developers from catering to the STR crowd. They could build smaller, cheaper homes in neighborhoods and rent them out.

5

1T-Nerd t1_j9qte1r wrote

Hadn't even considered that as a potential opportunity. So to follow that thought trend: I'm a developer who (qualifications for these state funded grants not yet known based on the linked article alone) gets state funding and re-zones a 5 acre swatch of farm land into multiple 2,480 square foot homes (median home size in the U.S according to Google). As it stands now nothing would stop me from turning this into a multi-unit STR community.

​

This all really feeds back into my original thought which was what will the gatekeeping be to qualify for these subsidies from a developer perspective and measures to lock out these becoming STR immediately.

2

kellogsmalone t1_ja2uex9 wrote

It's really corporate investing. Corporations now have 20% of the market of rentals nationwide.

2

naidim t1_j9pwt5g wrote

What's STR?

3

1T-Nerd t1_j9pxt4l wrote

STR = Short Term Rental (AirBNB/VRBO)

5

Kiernanstrat t1_j9qy8rq wrote

Drives me up a wall when people use unexplained acronyms.

1

naidim t1_j9u3nrf wrote

It can be frustrating, especially because so many have multiple uses. Sometimes it can be simple to figure out through context, but regardless, for communication purposes alone, its a never a bad idea to be explicit or to give examples.

1