The right to housing

Friends -

A lot is at stake over the next week for the thousands of Vermonters at risk of becoming houseless due to the possible expiration of the motel voucher program.

We have been inspired by the outpouring of support for the program from Vermonters who are speaking out and creating the political will needed to save the program, and are incredibly proud of our Progressive elected officials who are fighting tooth and nail to save the program and stop the coming humanitarian crisis.

Saving the Motel Voucher Program would be a significant win, but we must remember this program is a stop-gap. No matter what happens over the next few days, permanent, stable, and affordable housing will remain a distant dream for far too many Vermonters.

The thing is, it doesn't have to be this way.

France, South Africa, Scotland, and many other places around the world have adopted housing as a human right in their constitution, or through legislation. These are good policies that in the long run save money, since providing housing is a far cheaper alternative to allowing houselessness to continue. On average a houseless person costs the state $35,578 per year, according to a recent study, while providing supportive housing only costs $12,800.
 

With a Democratic super majority in the Vermont House and Senate, you would think that our state would be moving rapidly towards providing housing for everyone.

Guaranteeing housing as a human right would take political courage and would pit our elected leaders against the entrenched interests of Vermont's large landlords and wealthy developers. Unfortunately, few of our elected leaders are renters, and far too many are members of the landlord class. This has made it difficult to pass policies that move us towards the right to housing.

A recent Vermont Digger article found that a third of the Vermont Senate has made money “buying, selling, or renting real estate”, while only two members are renters. This is in stark contrast to the nearly 30 percent of Vermont residents who rent a home.

“Lawmakers introduced bills this session to stabilize rents and to prevent evictions statewide for no cause. But those measures never made it out of committee. Another bill, which is advancing, at first attempted to revive yesteryear’s fights for a rental registry. The measure would have created a statewide database of rental units, and an annual $35 per-unit fee paid by landlords would have funded the state’s rental code enforcement office. But the version that passed out of the House has punted the issue another year and instead asks state officials to write a report on the matter.”

While the interests of big developers and landlords are well represented in our state government, renters and the houseless have few people they can count on to represent their interests.

We are fighting every day to change this dynamic by both electing Progressives who will fight for housing as a human right in our state, and by building a mass movement of working class Vermonters to demand housing as a right from their elected officials.

In solidarity,

Josh Wronski
Director, Vemront Progressive Party