Housing-Ready toolbox

A guide for local decision-makers and community members.

This toolbox contains information to help communities assess their housing needs and identify gaps, tips for starting and enhancing housing committees, model zoning bylaws, outreach recommendations, and links to other state resources and guidance, such as Zoning For Great Neighborhoods. It is intended to stimulate community conversations, local leadership, and policy change, as needed, to increase inclusive, fair, and affordable housing.

How to use this toolbox:

Use the menu on the left to navigate to the sections most relevant to you. 

• “First Steps” will walk you through a few key municipal tools for addressing housing needs, including how to perform a Housing Needs Assessment for your community or region, tips for updating your municipal plan to support more inclusive, affordable housing, and Housing Committees.
• “Housing 101” outlines the housing landscape in Vermont. It includes links to resources and organizations and information about fair housing, health and safety, and assessing affordability.
• The “Housing Committees” section goes into more detail about the role of housing committees in Vermont, examples of activities, and resources for starting a housing committee in your community.
• “Tools & Resources” provides detailed information about regulatory and non-regulatory tools to promote more affordable, inclusive housing as well as links to the searchable Community Profile pages to the Housing Data site. These profiles provide rich and customizable data in visual and numerical formats. You can filter and compare by town, county, and/or state.

The Housing-Ready Toolbox was created through a partnership of The Fair Housing Project of CVOEO’s Thriving Communities initiative, the Vermont Department of Housing & Community Development, and Vermont Housing Finance Agency. If you have any questions about the toolbox, please contact Jess Hyman, Jacob Hemmerick or Leslie Black-Plumeau.