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rufustphish t1_j5ykel8 wrote

To everyone digging on Vermont and it's affordability, I hear you, but this is a nation wide problem, Vermont is not special in this regard.

Please don't scare this person away, we need good teachers here.

As a software engineer, I still found the first 3-4 years I lived in the Burlington area as an adult hard to afford, and that was almost 15 years ago now. I'm also pretty fortunate/privileged.

I think the cost of living varies based on the area and accommodations you're willing to accept. I don't live near Burlington anymore and that helped a lot with affordability.

My wife is a teacher and she too had to work a summer job for while before we met, but hasn't in years. I wish this wasn't the case.

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Thedancingsousa t1_j5zn4px wrote

Housing here is incredibly expensive compared to other areas. I just moved last year from a fairly urban/suburban area. It was a "you can get to anything you want within 30 minutes" kind of place. I rented a 2 bedroom house, with a garage and basement, for about 1000 a month. I'm now paying 1200 for a small 2 bedroom apartment, plus 100 a month for the storage unit to keep what I couldn't fit. And I was lucky to come out that good, honestly. Housing disappears from the market before it's even listed and the next list priced place I found was 1500 and an hour away from where I work. Things are worse here in that regard, so much that a news article came up while I was hunting for somewhere to live titled "people rejecting jobs in Vermont because they can't find housing."

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rufustphish t1_j63bij3 wrote

I used to have no problem finding places to rent in VT either, before the pandemic.

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Thedancingsousa t1_j63d7wj wrote

I don't know if it's the pandemic, the Airbnb slumlords, or something else. It was almost important to find anything, because places were being signed for before they even got listed anywhere. I only found something because I got lucky. I called the landlord about a property he had listed. He told me it was no longer available, but he did have one coming up in two months right when I needed to move. I signed for it early and sent a security deposit so I would have something at all.

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kellogsmalone t1_j5yw57m wrote

I'm a good teacher looking for a job in Vermont. I'm highly qualified but because I'm from out of state a lot of these committees are not even considering me for an interview.

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knellie646 t1_j5zidlh wrote

For what it's worth, I think that's because Vermont has virtually no housing for someone moving here.

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Heliolite42 t1_j60u2u5 wrote

I relocated to VT a number of years ago as a teacher. What I was told after I had gotten the job (and physically appeared) was schools have an issue with hiring out-of-state teachers, then said teachers ghost them in August. It's happened enough times with enough schools that most are hesitant to offer a contract unless you're already living up here.

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Rita22222 t1_j61oysc wrote

Unfortunately as someone who hired teachers in the past, this is a sad reality. Have hired wonderful candidates only to have them call three weeks before school starts and tell me they can’t find housing.

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Ej1992 t1_j60ynym wrote

It's more a housing issue. Towns are spread out and housing is minimal. Add the mediocre wages and high rent... And ...

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kellogsmalone t1_j60ywl9 wrote

Yeah. I'm abundantly aware of the housing crisis. I still want to make it work though. Giving it our best shot!

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