H.169 (2025) for immigrant access to housing
Let’s TURN OUT for immigrants at the State House on Tuesday 3/10/2025!
VAAP was proud to endorse this year’s Housing Access for Immigrant Families bill, championed by Migrant Justice and Representative Leonora Dodge. Executive director Jill Martin Diaz brings to VAAP two years’ of practice experience and academic study focused on fair housing rights and remedies, in addition to their decade experience with immigration legal practice.
Jill’s housing and benefits experience led them to conclude that housing IS the healthcare, and housing FIRST is the proven solution to ensuring individuals can meet their daily physiological, safety, and emotional needs.
Immigration legal interventions solve the medium- and long-term barriers to surviving and thriving in Vermont, but access to housing and housing alone solves the immediate-term barriers.
For too long, Vermont Legal Aid and Legal Services Vermont data and CVOEO data have made CLEAR that immigrants are not sufficiently protected from housing discrimination through the existing “national origin” protected class. Especially now, as anti-immigrant community members are emboldened by a hateful federal administration, we need to clearly communicate to housing providers that EVERYONE can access housing regardless of immigration status and that we will support our immigrant communities when they are unlawfully denied access to housing for immigration reasons.
As Migrant Justice notes:
“This is the last week before "crossover," the deadline for most bills to pass out of committee. We believe that the House version of the proposal – H.169 – will likely have a hearing in the House General and Housing committee before the end of the week. Similar language is also being heard in the Senate Economic Development committee this week, as well. This is a potential make-or-break week for the proposal to move forward this year, so it's full steam ahead!
“There are a number of things that you can do to support the proposal this week:
Spread the word to your supporters and encourage them to contact their legislators. You can share the email below, link to a post on the Migrant Justice website, and share social media posts on facebook, twitter, and instagram.
Submit written testimony to the House committee. This can be very brief, just enough to communicate why your organization supports H.169. You can pull details and language from the background document explaining the bill, but don't feel like you need to be an expert on the ins and outs! Write it up (on organization letterhead if possible) and email it to committee assistant mstowellaleman@leg.state.vt.us. Please cc committee chair mmihaly@leg.state.vt.us and bill sponsor ldodge@leg.state.vt.us.
Show up to support testimony in the Senate on Tuesday 3/11 11:15am (Room 27 in the State House). Migrant Justice is slotted a brief period for testimony as the Senate Economic Development committee takes up the language for the first time. Come and show your support!
Stay tuned for the more crucial hearing in the House committee. We will be back in touch in the next day or two once the committee hearing is scheduled. There will be a rally planned directly preceding the hearing, likely for Thursday or Friday. We hope you'll be able to turn folks out and show up to join the rally!
“We believe that collectively we have the power to move this bill forward – despite opposition from the banks, some landlords, and anti-immigrant forces – but we need all hands on deck! Please reply-all in any responses to ensure that Rachel will be included in your response. Thank you!”
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The Vermont legislature is considering a bill to expand housing access for immigrant families. Developed by Migrant Justice and supported by dozens of organizations and agencies, the proposal would stop discrimination against immigrants and prevent landlords from asking about immigration status.
As more and more immigrant families move to the state and look to make Vermont their home, they encounter steep barriers to finding adequate housing. Many landlords require documentation status, while others will charge higher rent or additional deposits once they realize prospective tenants have limited options. These discriminatory practices push many immigrants into employer-provided housing, which is often overcrowded and substandard, and which increases vulnerability to abuse and exploitation on the job.
The Housing Access for Immigrant Families bill adds citizenship and immigration status as a protected class to Vermont's Fair Housing and Public Accommodations Act, creating new protections for those facing discrimination. It additionally stops landlords from asking for a Social Security number during the rental application process and instead directs them to accept any government-issued identification. These changes are vital to allowing immigrant families to access housing in our state.
Background
Read the draft bill here, read Migrant Justice’s backgrounder here, and review media coverage about it here:
Also see Jill Martin Diaz’s 2018-20 study on Vermont’s fair housing needs here and Vermont’s 2025 Fair Housing Analysis and Needs Assessment here.
