Lyndonville's Need For Housing

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Created on Monday, 03 March 2025 17:27

Written by Asher Ballantine

Across the country, the demand for housing has skyrocketed as property values rise, and more and more workers find themselves in need of affordable housing. Lyndonville, like many other small towns across Vermont, suffers from a lack of affordable housing.

According to Jon Prue, the town’s zoning administrator, there is very little incentive for private sectors to construct low-income housing due to the financial risk that comes with building the property as well as maintaining it with tenants at a fixed income.

Housing that isn’t designed for low-income tenants does not receive federal grants for construction and suffers from a lack of funding costs. A housing project on Route 122 was designed to be an affordable workforce housing unit for several families but was stuck in the state’s Act 200, which slows down the process of getting funding and constructing new projects.

Zoning Administrator, Jon Prue, said, “Once a property owner rents their property, they no longer have rights to that property. And so, I think if the state puts some more ownership rights back on the people that own rental housing, then it might be an incentive for people to rent properties for the long term.”

Lyndonville, like many other towns, will continue to be affected by the lack of housing in the area, forcing workers to find both opportunity and housing elsewhere, often outside the state.