Lawmakers hear push for state plan to build service‑supported housing for Vermonters with developmental disabilities

Testimony April 10 before the General & Housing committee urged legislators to create a state planning team charged with producing an actionable plan by mid‑November to expand service‑supported housing for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

"Bottom line, Vermont needs 604 units of service supported housing for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities," said Susan Aronoff, senior planner and policy analyst for the Vermont Developmental Disabilities Council, during testimony on Section 5 of S.127 and the state’s Act 186 pilots.

Advocates said the state must pair housing with services and scale beyond one‑off projects to meet demand and comply with federal requirements. Aronoff cited Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) findings that Vermont is out of compliance with community‑based service rules and invoked the U.S. Supreme Court’s Olmstead decision as the legal framework that requires states to provide services in the most integrated setting appropriate.

Aronoff and parent advocates described several pilot projects funded after the 2022 Act 186 directive, including a Champlain Housing Trust project in Burlington intended to create roughly 10…