Community groups urge slower roll‑out, clearer roles and more funding as Senate reviews H.91 shelter overhaul

Montpelier — Community action agencies, domestic‑violence providers and homelessness advocates told the Vermont Senate Health and Welfare Committee on April 9 that H.91, a bill to reorganize temporary and emergency shelter funding and delivery, should move more slowly, include clearer state‑agency roles and carry larger, multiyear funding commitments to succeed.

The bill would shift most shelter funding and planning into five regional systems led by community action agencies and local partners. "Simply shifting the responsibility to the community level will not serve the issue of inadequate funding and resources," Jenna O'Farrell, executive director of Northeast Kingdom Community Action and president of the Vermont Community Action Partnership, told the committee. She and other agency leaders urged a phased timeline, more transition support and sustained appropriations.

The House‑drafted H.91 directs the Department for Children and Families (DCF) to present an implementation plan by Feb. 1, 2026, and contemplates moving many shelter dollars to local entities by FY 2027–28. Witnesses said that schedule is too compressed to permit meaningful regional planning and raised repeated concerns about how a statewide advisory committee in the bill would interact with local planning processes.

Lily Sojourner, director of the Vermont Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO), provided an overview of the current federal and state funding landscape and the Office's…