Hey, remember last fall, when the Scott administration delivered a grim assessment of Vermont’s housing crisis? Top officials outlined a dire situation with shortages in all sectors of the housing market, from shelters and subsidized rentals to single-family homes to top-end residences. In response, the administration convened an informal task force to confront Vermont’s housing crisis. A multiagency group was going to gather once a week throughout the fall to come up with big, comprehensive solutions.

Well, whatever has become of that?

Two things, and only two things, both of which completely fail to meet the moment. First, we have a joke of a temporary shelter expansion that might net a couple hundred beds for a few months. Second, we have a push for regulatory reform.

And… that’s it. No significant public investment in housing. Phil Scott is failing to address the crisis. He is failing to lead on the issue that he himself spotlighted as the state’s biggest challenge.

This has been obvious for a while, but it was hammered home during a brief legislative hearing on Friday afternoon that wasn’t even on the schedule.

Members of the House Appropriations Committee have been making the rounds of policy committees, briefing them on the administration’s FY2025 budget as it relates to each committee’s sphere of influence. Appropriations member Rep. Tiff Bluemle was charged with delivering the bad news on housing to the House General & Housing Committee. Her testimony laid bare the bankrupt nature of Scott’s housing policy.

“If we are truly on a housing crisis,” Bluemle said, “and you had testimony last week confirming that from advocates and the administration, the budget that is in front of us right now does not reflect that.”

Bluemle identified about $30 million in housing-related spending in Scott’s proposed FY25 budget. That compares with roughly $100 million spent by the state on housing in the current fiscal year. Granted, that was fueled largely by federal American Recovery Plan Act funds and there’s precious little of that left. But Phil Scott’s budget is basically a shrug of the shoulders when it comes to housing. On February 8, Chris Donnelly of the Champlain Housing Trust talked of a state investment of $200 million for affordable housing. (Donnelly’s presentation to House General is downloadable here.)

“A lot of eggs are being put in the zoning and permitting reform basket to spur construction,” Bluemle said. “But when we asked various housing developers what kind of difference would that make… their determination is that it wasn’t enough to meet the current need.”

Rep. Caleb Elder, member of House General, then referenced Donnelly’s testimony. “I wouldn’t expect Champlain Housing Trust to think that regulatory relief is top of their list, because what they really need is money,” Elder said.

Bluemle replied, “Everybody agrees that [reform] will help, but it won’t produce the kind of housing in certain areas that we most need.”

Bluemle said that Appropriations is “scouring” the budget for more housing support, but didn’t sound optimistic. She asked the committee to rank their top priorities for whatever money can be identified.

Rep. Mary Howard, member of House General, was fed up. “If this is a housing crisis, why isn’t [Scott] calling for a state of emergency?” she said. “We’re scrambling, scrambling to put together money for Vermonters who are suffering so. If we’re in a crisis, call up the National Guard to build houses or build apartments, something. Do something.”

I don’t know if the Guard is the right move, but she’s right on the broader issue. Phil Scott wants urgent, robust action on zoning and permitting, and otherwise he’s waving the white flag. It’s a huge comedown from his own “all hands on deck” moment just a few months ago.

Speaking of which. At the time, Commissioner Chris Winters of the Department of Children and Families set an ambitious goal of creating 1,500 new shelter beds by April 1, when the motel voucher program is set to expire. The price tag for facilities and support? $70 million.

What did we get instead? A cobbled-together plan to add maybe 200 beds at a cost of $4 million. I’m sure part of that comedown was due to the difficulty (if not impossibility) of adding 1,500 beds in six months. But I’m equally sure that Winters was told, “Nice little plan, but you’re not getting $70 million. How ’bout $4 mill instead?”

While a legislative conference committee will meet this week to decide how much the state will immediately invest in vouchers and shelter space, the parameters of its work are truly dire. We are facing the short-term prospect of a mass unsheltering. More broadly, in the absence of a more robust policy, our housing crisis is only going to get worse.

That’s not me saying so, by the way. That’s Alex Farrell, Scott’s own Commissioner of Housing and Community Development, saying that in November. As I wrote at the time:

Farrell said that restoring our ownership and rental markets to robust health may be literally impossible, even with an all-out effort to invest state funds, leverage other sources, and do as much as possible to unleash housing renovation and construction.

The need is that great. The crisis is on Phil Scott’s desk. He says so himself. But his policy, aside from regulatory reform, is a big fat fail.