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Re:

1 in 5 Vermonters Fell Behind or Nearly Fell Behind on Housing Payments

In the September 2026 Vermont Public Poll, 20% of respondents said other financial burdens had made them late or short on rent or mortgage payments in the past year; another 12% said they almost fell behind.
From TheFinanceBase Team3 min to read
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One in five respondents to the Vermont Public 2026 Poll said that, in the prior year, they had been late or come up short on rent or mortgage payments because of other financial burdens. Another 12% said they almost fell behind. These are separate self-reported responses—not a count of evictions or proof that respondents missed a full payment.

What the one-in-five figure measures

The poll asked: “In the past year, have you ever been late or come up short on rent or mortgage payments because of other financial burdens?” Twenty percent answered that they had, while 12% said they almost fell behind. The results were collected in September 2026 and reported by Carly Berlin for Vermont Public in partnership with VTDigger. Vermont Public 2026 Poll results as reported by News From The States

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The 20% figure reflects respondents’ accounts of payment difficulty tied to other financial burdens. It does not establish how many people missed an entire payment, faced eviction or could not afford housing at all. The additional 12% is a distinct “almost fell behind” response and should not be added to the 20% as though it described the same outcome.

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How payment difficulty differed by age

Reported difficulty was higher among younger respondents in the poll:

  • 27% of respondents ages 18–44 said they had struggled with housing expenses.
  • 22% of respondents ages 45–64 said they had struggled.
  • 9% of respondents age 65 and older said they had struggled.

These are descriptive subgroup results. The reporting does not establish that age caused the differences or provide enough methodological detail to determine whether the gaps are statistically significant. Age-group results and issue priorities as reported by News From The States

Housing affordability was a broader concern

In the same poll, 31% of respondents named affordability or the economy as Vermont’s most important problem, and 13% named housing and homelessness. Those answers describe respondents’ top concerns; they are not measures of missed payments. Poll findings on Vermonters’ priorities

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Other figures in the report help frame the affordability pressure, but come from different sources and years—not from the September 2026 poll:

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  • More than 30% of Vermont households were cost-burdened in 2024, meaning they spent more than a third of monthly income on housing.
  • The median sale price of a Vermont primary home was $379,000 in the prior year, more than 91% above its level a decade earlier, according to state property transfer tax data as reported in 2026.
  • The share of Vermont renters with enough income to buy a median-priced home fell from nearly a third in 2021 to 6% in 2023, according to the Vermont Housing Needs Assessment as reported in 2026.

Cost burden, home-sale prices, renter purchasing power and self-reported payment trouble measure different things. They offer context for one another, but should not be treated as interchangeable evidence or as a single trend measured by the poll. Housing affordability context reported by News From The States

What individual accounts add—and what they cannot show

Interviewees described tradeoffs behind financial strain. Liz Courtney, 46, of Wolcott, said reduced work hours and startup costs for her household’s music recording studio put pressure on income. “We’re putting off repairs on our septic system and our deck,” she said, also describing a postponed family vacation.

Jennifer Beane-Edgar, 43, an administrative assistant living with her children in a subsidized apartment in Hartford, said she had kept up with rent but faced choices among other essentials: “Sometimes it’s choosing between, you know, medical necessities for my kids, or gas in the car, or food.” These accounts illustrate household tradeoffs; they are not estimates of how typical any one experience is. Interviews reported by News From The States

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What the poll report does not establish

The report does not provide the poll’s sample size, sampling method, weighting or margin of error. Its findings should therefore be read as reported poll responses, not as administrative counts or a precise estimate whose statistical uncertainty can be assessed from the available details. The full questionnaire and technical methodology were not included in the reporting reviewed.

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