Housers Ep. 2 - Brazilian Railroad vs. the Vermont Housing Crisis
Release Date: 03/21/2025
Market Rate Housing is the Affordable Housing Solution
The Housers Podcast
Host Scott Graves is once again joined by Stephen Box, Scott’s partner in Partners in Housing, small scale housing developments in Vermont and columnist under the column header, the accidental activist. Stephen is also our co-host for The Housers Podcast. Stephen and Scott explain for listeners how a more aggressive approach to building market rate housing in the US could benefit the affordable housing market. Our ideas are backed by We also touch upon why providing economic development programming to empower local residents, coupled with increasing home values in a given...
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Checking in with the Vermont Futures Project
The Housers Podcast
Vermont isn't just shrinking in population, its aging. The state has 30,000 fewer working age citizens between 25-40 then it did 25 years ago. This, while modest population gains during the Covid-19 pandemic has reversed. For those of us at the Innova802 Crew, we see the effects every day. Many citizens on fixed incomes, who represent a larger share of the population, cannot afford increases to taxes for education, infrastructure and public healthcare subsidies. For many, the gut reaction is to say, no new Vermont citizens, no new Vermont students, no new Vermont...
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Are Short Term Rentals Bad for Vermont’s Economy?
The Housers Podcast
We’re joined by Julie Marks of the to take a deeper look at what STRs mean to the Vermont economy and what role STRs play or don’t play in the housing crisis in Vermont and in the country. Listeners will get a sense for the profile of many STR owners and what role STRs can play in housing people under a variety of circumstances. In the Housers hometown of Rutland, VT local leadership has opposing views on the role of STRs. We hope to spark a vibrant and balanced conversation to benefit our community’s housing ecosystem through our podcast and advocacy for the use of...
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Why is Affordable Housing Unaffordable to Build?
The Housers Podcast
Host and founder Scott Graves is asking some tough questions for all of us to ask in our own communities. How do we get beyond a place of manufactured scarcity and support all forms of private and public housing development to meet our middle market needs? Find Scott’s Latest Essays from An Artist Audio recording on and the . Find his housing advocacy work, along with Housers Stephen Box and Mike Waugh at
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Housers Ep. 2 - Brazilian Railroad vs. the Vermont Housing Crisis
The Housers Podcast
Co-hosts Stephen Box and Scott Graves rattle on regarding the four rules Alexandre Behringused when he took charge and began scripting the critical moves, not all the moves, just the critical moves for the Brazilian Railroad. He implemented four rules with a focused commitment to the destination which he defined as financial solvency and operational efficiency. Can a similar tactic be leveraged to solve Vermont’s ongoing housing crisis? Can Vermont then be an example to the rest of the United States for solving our national housing dilemma? Are we in over our heads at...
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The Housers Podcast Ep.1: Meet the Housers
The Housers Podcast
Stephen Box and his family moved to Rutland VT from Los Angeles. Like many others they left the city during covid to seek their fortunes in rural America. Stephen is an accidental activist. He doesn’t take no for an answer. As founder of , as columnist in the Mountain Times and a Rutland Houser Stephen looms large over a community of dedicated small-scale landlords serving their city. When he connected with developer Scott Graves in 2024, a match made in heaven was forged. Enter Mike Waugh, technologist and sometime contractor working on a platform solution for helping...
info_outlineCo-hosts Stephen Box and Scott Graves rattle on regarding the four rules Alexandre Behringused when he took charge and began scripting the critical moves, not all the moves, just the critical moves for the Brazilian Railroad.
He implemented four rules with a focused commitment to the destination which he defined as financial solvency and operational efficiency.
Can a similar tactic be leveraged to solve Vermont’s ongoing housing crisis? Can Vermont then be an example to the rest of the United States for solving our national housing dilemma? Are we in over our heads at The Housers Podcast? We say, go big or don’t build any housing!