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State Land Use Enacted Legislation
| Bill # | State | Year | Party | Topic |
|---|---|---|---|---|
ACT 47 |
VT | 2024 | D | "Co-Living" and Single-Room Occupancy, Accessory dwelling units regulations, Affordable housing incentives and financing, Allow ADUs where single-family homes are permitted, Appeals, Building code reform, By-right zoning, Declare HOA rules void, Density bonus, Density Increases, Encouraging duplex, triplex, fourplexes and townhomes, Fair distribution of housing, Funding, Homeowner association rules, Lot Size Requirements, Manufactured Housing, Minimum parking requirements, Other streamlining, Planning Requirements, Streamline application, Technical assistance, Workforce Housing |
Provided by Furman
Summary
- Limits residential parking requirements to no more than one space per dwelling unit in areas served by municipal sewer and water, while allowing up to 1.5 spaces for duplexes and multiunit dwellings in areas without sewer and water and more than one-quarter mile from public parking.
- Allows duplexes as a permitted use with the same dimensional standards as single-family homes in any district that permits year-round residential development, and permits multiunit dwellings of four or fewer units in sewer- and water-served districts unless larger buildings are explicitly required.
- Requires single-family homes with accessory dwelling units to be subject to the same review and dimensional standards as homes without ADUs and prohibits more restrictive criteria for converting detached nonresidential buildings into ADUs.
- Prohibits bylaws from penalizing or restricting hotels from renting rooms for publicly funded housing assistance, including placements funded through the state’s General Assistance program.
- Requires zoning in sewer- and water-served areas to allow minimum residential densities of at least five dwelling units per acre and prevents density standards for multiunit housing from being more restrictive than those for single-family homes.
- Allows affordable housing developments, including mixed-use projects, in sewer- and water-served areas to exceed residential density limits by up to 40 percent, including one additional story in height, provided building and fire safety standards are met.
- Restricts municipal regulation of emergency shelters to basic siting and design controls and prohibits regulations that interfere with their intended functional use.
- Defines key housing and land-use terms, including accessory dwelling units, duplexes, emergency shelters, multifamily dwellings, and areas served by municipal sewer and water infrastructure.
- Updates municipal bylaw reporting requirements before and after adoption or amendment.
- Limits appeals of administrative zoning decisions by residents or property owners and excludes neighborhood character claims when a residential project includes affordable housing.
- Allows administrative officers to approve minor subdivisions rather than requiring review by a municipal panel.
- Precludes environmental appeals of municipal determinations regarding neighborhood character for residential developments located in designated downtown areas.
- Restricts municipal panels and administrative officers from imposing additional lot size, parking, building size, height, or density limits on housing developments unless necessary for compliance with nondiscretionary standards and supported by written findings demonstrating no unequal treatment or exclusion of housing.
- Strengthens regional and municipal housing planning requirements by mandating detailed assessments of housing needs by price, unit type, quality, zoning district, and municipality, and by requiring recommended actions to meet identified needs.
- Allows planning funds to support direct, on-call technical assistance to municipalities seeking designation of neighborhood development areas.
- Requires a statewide planning association to report on improved integration of municipal, regional, and state land-use planning and to hire housing resource navigators to support municipalities, housing organizations, and developers.
- Raises the threshold for state land-use permitting review in designated growth areas from 10 to 25 housing units through July 1, 2026, and counts the creation of four or fewer units within an existing structure as a single unit for threshold purposes.
- Exempts priority housing projects in designated growth areas from state land-use review through July 1, 2026, provided construction is substantially completed by June 30, 2029.
- Authorizes municipalities in designated downtowns and neighborhood development areas to use master plan permits, allowing subsequent projects to proceed through permit amendments using prior findings as a rebuttable presumption of compliance.
- Invalidates post-July 1, 2023 deed restrictions that impose minimum unit sizes or excessive parking requirements in areas served by municipal sewer and water or near public parking.
- Directs a statewide review of fire and building code provisions from other jurisdictions to facilitate new housing construction and residential conversions.
- Expresses intent to fund statewide expansion of home-sharing opportunities.
- Creates a Mobile Home Task Force to study mobile home parks and expresses intent to fund repairs, infrastructure, legal assistance, and technical support for mobile homes and residents.
- Expresses intent to fund first-generation homebuyer grants.
- Establishes a Middle-Income Homeownership Development Program for households earning up to 150 percent of area median income, providing subsidies for new construction and substantial rehabilitation of owner-occupied housing.
- Creates a Rental Housing Revolving Loan Program to provide subsidized loans for developments serving middle-income households, requiring at least 25 percent of units to be affordable to households earning 65–150 percent of area median income.
- Revises the Vermont Rental Housing Improvement Program to prohibit short-term rental use of assisted units and to prevent involuntary displacement of existing tenants.
- Expresses intent to fund affordable mixed-income housing, manufactured housing improvements, recovery residences, housing for farmworkers and refugees, and shelters and permanent housing for people experiencing homelessness.
- Directs a nonprofit organization to create and administer a rental housing stabilization services program to help prevent evictions through screening, referrals, and follow-up services.
- Directs a statewide legal aid organization to operate a two-year eviction defense pilot providing full tenant representation and evaluating impacts on eviction outcomes and homelessness prevention.
- Directs the state housing authority to create and administer a rent arrears assistance fund to prevent eviction for tenants in residential and mobile home rentals.
Provided by lawmakers
Bill Title
An act relating to housing opportunities made for everyone.
Related resources
Enacted Legislation Related Posts
Research and analysis from the Furman Center on this and related housing policy topics.
