Work to be done

We need to shift the tax burden from the property tax to a fairer system connected to income. Over the past 5 years, property values have soared, pricing many Vermonters out of their homes or making it difficult to adjust to higher property taxes. This structure places a higher financial burden on low/middle and fixed-income earners.

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Initiatives that would provide relief for Vermonters

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• Adjust the tax structure to fair share taxes, and second home property taxes

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• Provide Universal Primary Care insurance to lessen the burden of healthcare costs on individuals, municipalities, and businesses as a first step towards universal healthcare

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• Reinstate school construction aid for all of Vermont so that when a municipality is faced with maintaining school facilities the financial burden doesn’t solely rely on increased property taxes

Communities that experience a significant sense of despair due to their social or economic circumstances have a higher percentage of people struggling with drug misuse and overdose, suicide, alcohol abuse, and theft. We know this is true here in Burlington. The overdose prevention site is a good first step, but  it can’t be the only step to tackle this disease of despair.

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We need a strong advocate in Montpelier who will prioritize the following for Burlington

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• We need and deserve both a professional, well-staffed police department and effective and well-funded responses to the longstanding social traumas

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• We need the opioid settlement funds to go through to support prevention, intervention, treatment, recovery, and harm reduction services

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• We must advocate for overdose prevention sites throughout Vermont so that Burlington is not the only place with services

Housing is healthcare. Housing can have a major impact on people’s health and well-being, including both physical and mental health. We have a housing crisis in Burlington that is the culmination of not funding or building enough affordable housing stock and not keeping what we do have affordable. Rents and home prices continue to rise making it unaffordable for many to live and thrive here. The result is a community that is struggling to provide safe, affordable, just and equitable long-term housing for its people

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We live in an abundant culture with a scarcity mindset that is rooted in a fear of not having enough.

 

• We need UVM Medical Center to invest again in public housing. This is a win for our community and has the potential to reduce their operational costs for services of the population that are unhoused.

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• Work on the relationship with UVM to provide affordable housing to its students

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• Push the legislation to reintroduce H.708 and fulfill Burlington’s request for the enactment of Just Cause Eviction protections

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• Protect renters from abuse of application fees from landlords