Our action made progress on ending no-cause evictions

Thank you so much to all those who took action to end no-cause evictions in Vermont over the weekend. The nearly 200 emails that we collectively sent to House legislative leaders had a huge impact on the debate and allowed more progress on ending just cause evictions to be made in the past 24 hours than we have seen over the past three years. 

Unfortunately, the Progressive amendment to the housing bill that would have placed a statewide moratorium on no-cause evictions failed on a 13 - 111 vote.

Our House Progressive Caucus fought courageously on the House floor.

To be frank - we never expected to win that fight. As Rep. Bran Cina said on the House floor: 

“Until the [Vermont House] is majority tennant and not majority landlords, we’re just going to keep on hitting these kinds of barriers” 

            - Rep. Brian Cina (P/D - Burlington)

Why put forward an amendment that we knew would fail? After 3 years of no progress on the issue despite voters in Burlington, Winooski, Montpelier, and Essex overwhelmingly voting in favor of just cause eviction charter changes, we had to do everything in our power to move the issue forward. 

With that in mind, Rep. Taylor Small and the House Progressive Caucus introduced an amendment to the housing bill to create a statewide moratorium on no-cause evictions until a statewide policy is passed. The goal of the amendment was to put the issue back on the forefront of the agenda and push House leadership to take action to move the charter change proposals forward. 

While we did not win this fight outright, we did make concrete progress. After our amendment failed, Democratic leaders introduced a 'compromise' amendment to create a study committee that will meet 12 times this summer to “review the causes of eviction in Vermont and propose legislation advancing eviction laws responsive to Vermont’s crises of housing and homelessness.” 

We know that a study committee is not enough. But… it does provide our movement with concrete next steps to continue organizing around, and represents the most significant progress we have made in the Vermont Legislature on this issue over the past several years. 

We want to thank the 13 legislators who voted in favor of the statewide moratorium on no-cause evictions, especially Rep. Taylor Small and the House Progressive Caucus for leading the fight.

Please stay engaged on this issue. It is clear that no action is possible unless our leaders hear from you, but a a few hundred emails can transform what is politically possible in Vermont.

In solidarity, 

Josh Wronski
Director, Vermont Progressive Party

P.S. We are the only major party in Vermont whose elected leaders have unanimously supported ending just cause evictions. We don't take money from corporations, so need you to fund our movement. Chip in what you can so we can continue organizing around this and other important issues.