The Vermont Statutes Online
The Statutes below include the actions of the 2025 session of the General Assembly.
NOTE: The Vermont Statutes Online is an unofficial copy of the Vermont Statutes Annotated that is provided as a convenience.
(Cite as: 24 V.S.A. § 4001)
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§ 4001. Declaration of policy
It is hereby declared:
(1) That there exists in the State unsanitary or unsafe dwelling accommodations and that
persons of low income are forced to reside in such unsanitary or unsafe accommodations;
that within the State there is a shortage of safe or sanitary dwelling accommodations
available at rents that persons of low income can afford and that such persons are
forced to occupy overcrowded and congested dwelling accommodations; that the aforesaid
conditions cause an increase in and spread of disease and crime and constitute a menace
to the health, safety, morals, and welfare of the residents of the State of Vermont
and impair economic value; that these conditions necessitate excessive and disproportionate
expenditures of public funds for crime prevention and punishment, public health and
safety, fire and accident protection, and other public services and facilities.
(2) That these slum areas cannot be cleared, nor can the shortage of safe and sanitary
dwellings for persons of low income be relieved through the operation of private enterprise
and that the construction of housing projects for persons of low income, as defined
in section 4002 of this chapter, would therefore not be competitive with the private
enterprise.
(3) That the clearance, replanning, and reconstruction of the areas in which unsanitary
or unsafe housing conditions exist and the providing of safe and sanitary dwelling
accommodations for persons of low income are public uses and purposes for which public
money may be spent and private property acquired.
(4) That substandard and decadent areas exist in certain portions of the State of Vermont
and that there is not, in certain parts of the State, an adequate supply of decent,
safe, and sanitary housing for persons of low income or elders of low income, or both
available for rents that the persons can afford to pay, and the rents that the persons
can afford to pay would not warrant private enterprise in providing housing for the
persons; that this situation tends to cause an increase and spread of communicable
and chronic disease; that the lack of properly constructed dwelling units designed
specifically to meet the needs of elders aggravate those diseases peculiar to elders,
thereby crowding the hospitals of the State with elders under conditions of neglect
that inevitably exacerbate mental deterioration; that this situation constitutes a
menace to the health, safety, welfare, and comfort of the inhabitants of the State
and is detrimental to property values in the localities in which it exists; that this
situation cannot readily be remedied by the private enterprise and that a public exigency
exists that makes the provision of housing for elders of low income and the clearance
of substandard and decadent areas a public necessity; that the provision of housing
for elders of low income for the purpose of reducing the cost to the State of their
care by promoting their health and welfare, thereby prolonging their productivity
in the interest of the State and nation and the clearance of substandard and decadent
areas is declared to be a public use for which private property may be taken by eminent
domain and public funds raised by taxation may be expended, and the necessity in the
public interest for provisions hereinafter enacted, is hereby declared as a matter
of legislative determination. (Added 1961, No. 212, § 2, eff. July 11, 1961; amended 2013, No. 96 (Adj. Sess.), § 156.)