Following last month’s devastating floods, lawmakers this week approved a request from Governor Phil Scott to invest $14 million in new housing and business assistance programs.
Half of that money will go toward purchasing and installing new mobile homes for low-income Vermonters and half toward a grant program for businesses, farms and nonprofits that commit to reopening their doors and bringing back their employees.
Scott requested and received approval for the transfers Thursday from Vermont’s Emergency Board, a special panel on which he sits and which also includes the four chairmen of the House’s finance committees. The committee can meet when lawmakers are not otherwise in session to approve spending. For now, the $14 million will be diverted from a special fund managed in the treasurer’s office for bond repayment, but Scott’s office said the fund will be replenished when lawmakers reconvene this winter and pass their regular budget bills.
At least 21 houses were completely destroyed by flooding in July, and another 100 were severely damaged and could become uninhabitable, according to preliminary government estimates.
“The loss of these homes is devastating for homeowners and renters, and the loss of these units only adds to Vermont’s housing crisis that has been building for decades,” Lindsay Kurrle, Vermont’s Secretary of Commerce and Community Development, told the Emergency Board.
With this legislative approval, the state now plans to spend $7 million to install and purchase new, energy-efficient mobile homes.
Authorities estimate construction, acquisition and placement costs will be about $130,000 per unit. Program participants must purchase the homes, but authorities say available financing assistance could reduce the cost of a mortgage to as little as $55,000. Money from the purchase of each home will be reinvested in a fund managed by the Vermont State Housing Authority to continue acquiring and placing new homes.
The Rapid Response Mobile Home Infill Program could complete 15 units within 12 weeks and build 100 new homes by next June, according to state officials. Overall, Kurrle said, the state hopes to create about 250 new units in the next few years.
Last year, the state created the Business Emergency Gap Assistance Program to help businesses, landlords and nonprofits recover from the historic peak summer flood of 2023. The emergency committee on Thursday also approved Scott’s request to add another $7 million to an updated version of that program. Grants are capped at $100,000, and businesses can apply for reimbursement of up to 30% of their uncovered losses.
Authorities will allocate 10% of the funds to BIPOC-owned businesses and 40% to farms.
Agriculture Minister Anson Tebbetts said in an interview Thursday that 79 farms have so far reported damage totaling $4.3 million from last month’s storms. Two-thirds of the affected farmers do not have crop or livestock insurance, the minister said.
These subsidies are “helpful,” Tebbetts said, but acknowledged that they do not compensate farmers.
“It gives them a chance to live another day,” he said.
Also, last year the state put $10 million originally earmarked for weatherization into a new program to help flood-affected Vermonters replace damaged appliances with energy-efficient alternatives. Only a little more than $2 million of that has been spent, Public Services Commissioner June Tierney told the emergency committee, which gave her authority to make this year’s flood victims eligible for the program as well.
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