Committee reviews bill to create Vermont Homeless Emergency Assistance and Responsive Transition to Housing program

Lawmakers and staff walked the House Health & Welfare committee through a bill on April 3 that would create a statewide program called the Vermont Homeless Emergency Assistance and Responsive Transition to Housing program (referred to in the draft as VHEARTH) to coordinate emergency shelter, extreme-weather shelters and supportive services through community action agencies.

The draft bill would create a new chapter in Title 33 that, under the bill, replaces existing General Assistance (GA) Emergency Housing and the Housing Opportunity Grant (HOP) program and would redirect funds for those programs to the new VHEARTH program beginning July 1, 2026. It also establishes a time‑limited implementation advisory committee and requires an implementation plan due to the General Assembly by Feb. 1, 2026.

Committee members were presented with the bill’s purpose and structure by legislative counsel Katie Winthrop, who said the committee had “draft 7.1, which is the human services committee report” and that the draft contains the elements the House is expected to send to the committee. Winthrop reviewed the bill’s findings, intent language, definitions (including “unsheltered homelessness,” “community based shelter” and “at risk of homelessness”), and the new program components such as supportive services, temporary and transitional shelter, and dedicated services for households impacted by domestic and sexual violence.

The bill would designate community action agencies to operate or cause to be…