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 monitoring role. She said Vermont's Housing Opportunity Program (HOP) and related awards are a mix of base and one‑time funds; in fiscal year 2025 base funding was about $26 million and the office awarded a total near $40 million to 35 nonprofit providers, including roughly $10 million in one‑time funding. "That investment in housing is so important because really homelessness is a housing problem," Sojourner told senators.

Community details outlined during testimony included a statewide shelter capacity of roughly 650–655 households, with 92% of shelters operating year‑round; 65% classified as semi‑congregate; and program types that include domestic violence shelters, family shelters, young‑adult programs, and adult‑only shelters. Sojourner also said HUD funding streams that support emergency shelter and coordinated entry — ESG and Continuum of Care grants — total roughly $2 million annually for Vermont and that federal technical assistance and contacts have been less consistent this year.

Advocates pressed several concrete changes. The Community Action Partnership recommended OEO continue administering HOP grants for two additional years to provide a stable bridge while regions draft plans, then phase motel/hotel funding to regions in FY 2027 with a full shift in FY 2028. They submitted a preliminary transition cost estimate of about $6.83 million for planning and staffing to prepare regions to assume responsibility; the bill's appropriation section currently lists $6.5 million, which multiple witnesses said is likely insufficient.

Brenda Siegel, executive director of End Homelessness Vermont and a lived‑experience advocate, urged the committee to avoid policies that repeatedly force providers to shelter people in hotels only to later clear them out. "What I like most about H.91 is that it stops this cycle of harm," Siegel said, urging continuous sheltering while communities prepare new systems and calling for minimum rights and geographic equity guarantees in any final language.

Domestic‑violence providers asked for explicit, separate funding and operational rules to protect client confidentiality and comply with federal law that bars use of the shared homelessness database (HMIS) for domestic‑violence survivor records. "Section 3 ... establishes a program within [the bill] for shelter and supportive services for victims of domestic and sexual violence," Sarah Robinson, co‑executive director of the Vermont Network Against Domestic and Sexual Violence, said. She and her colleague Cara Casey said about $400,000 would be needed to stand up a statewide administrative system for their network.

Multiple witnesses emphasized that regional plans must leverage existing local assets — landlord liaison programs, master‑leasing, coordinated entry and housing coalitions — and that short‑term eviction prevention work already prevents homelessness for dozens of families annually. "We prevented 53 evictions last year," Allison Calderon of Capstone said; advocates said those prevention efforts are underresourced compared with emergency shelter spending.

Committee members asked repeatedly how success would be measured. Josh Davis, director of Southeastern Vermont Community Action (SEVCA), urged development of clear metrics and said: "This program is not going to end homelessness, but this program can help support better outcomes." Witnesses suggested tracking reductions in the unduplicated count of people experiencing literal homelessness, time to permanent housing after shelter entry, and regional vacancy‑rate and housing‑placement metrics.

Several presenters also warned of federal funding uncertainty: Sojourner said some HUD regional staff had resigned and HUD canceled certain regional training providers, while the Community Service Block Grant (CSBG) — roughly $4 million statewide — and other federal tranches have arrived more slowly this year.

The committee did not act on H.91 during the hearing. Senators said they would solicit written, line‑by‑line feedback from providers and expected witnesses to return as the committee prepares to mark up the bill.

Ending note: witnesses asked the Legislature to preserve OEO's technical role, clarify how statewide organizations (for example, domestic‑violence networks and disability advocates) fit into regional systems, and ensure multiyear funding commitments so regional transitions do not produce gaps or repeated emergency hotel placements.