Does Vermont Really Want Housing?

April 2026

Across Vermont - and particularly here in Southwestern Vermont - nearly everyone agrees on one thing: we have a housing shortage.

Employers say it. Economic reports confirm it. State leaders repeat it. Young families feel it. Workers experience it every day.

But occasionally a moment arrives when a community has to move beyond agreeing that housing is needed and confront a harder question: Do we actually want to build it?

In one Southwestern Vermont community, that question has come into sharper focus around a proposed workforce housing effort that had been moving through a deliberate local process. This was not a sudden or careless idea. It grew out of years of discussion about the widening gap between where people work and where they can afford to live. Advisors were engaged, proposals were solicited, concepts were developed, and a plan began to take shape through the usual channels meant to move an idea from conversation to feasibility.

As often happens, the public conversation expanded. Residents raised understandable questions about design, scale, traffic, and community character. Meetings were held. Data was presented. Experts weighed in. And the underlying point remained clear: housing availability has become one of the defining constraints on the region’s economic future.

And yet, the project stalled. Few in the development or economic development world were surprised. Many have seen this pattern before. 

That is what makes the moment so important. Across Vermont, communities are often able to agree in principle that more housing is needed. But when a specific site, a specific plan, and a specific set of tradeoffs come into view, consensus can fracture quickly.

This tension is not unique to this specific community. It exists in towns across Vermont.

We value our landscapes. We care about community character. And, we worry about change.

Those instincts are understandable and often healthy. But they also force a deeper civic question: if we say we want schools, healthcare, renovation services, hotels, cafes and restaurants, where exactly do we imagine teachers, nurses, tradespeople, hospitality workers, and young families will live?

Because the alternative path is already unfolding.

Businesses are struggling to hire. Employees are commuting longer distances across state lines (if they choose to work here at all). Young families choose other regions (or other states) where housing is attainable. Local employers delay expansion or reduce hours due to staffing shortages.

Housing is not simply a real estate issue. It is workforce policy, economic policy, and community sustainability all at once.

From the perspective of employers across Bennington County, the challenge has become increasingly practical. Businesses that want to grow - or simply maintain current operations - cannot do so without people. And people cannot live where housing is unavailable or unattainable.

In that sense, housing has become one of the most important pieces of economic infrastructure we have.

None of this means every proposal is perfect. Healthy debate improves projects, community input matters, design should respect place, and infrastructure should be planned responsibly.

But communities also face moments where the broader goal must remain clear: ensuring that the next generation of workers, families, and entrepreneurs can realistically live in the places they help sustain.

Our Vermont communities have long been a place people admire — for their beauty, civic engagement, and strong sense of identity. Those qualities are worth protecting. But protection alone cannot be the entire strategy for the future.

Communities thrive not only by preserving what they have, but by deciding what they are willing to become.

The housing conversation now underway is ultimately about that choice. Not just whether one particular project moves forward, but whether the community is prepared to grapple honestly with the region-wide housing challenge that nearly everyone agrees exists.

It is easy to say Vermont needs housing. The harder, and more important, question is whether we are willing to build it.

Because in the end, communities do not solve housing shortages simply by talking about them. They solve them by making thoughtful decisions, supporting responsible development, showing courage, and accepting a measure of risk. Most of all, they solve them by working together to ensure that the people who power our businesses, schools, and services can also afford to live in the places they serve.

Always Onward,

Matt Harrington

CEO