Advocate urges clearer rules, notifications and faster discovery for Human Services Board fair hearings

Brenda Siegel, executive director of End Homelessness Vermont, told a legislative committee considering H.92 on Thursday that people appealing emergency housing decisions to the Human Services Board face inconsistent procedures, frequent delays in discovery and limits on how authorized representatives are notified and involved.

Siegel said the problems matter because many appellants are people experiencing homelessness or have complex disabilities and rely on expedited fair hearings to challenge emergency housing exits. She told members the group’s work with economic services staff has reduced the number of hearings but that the remaining cases reveal procedural gaps that can harm vulnerable clients.

Siegel described several recurring problems. She said authorized-representative forms exist but are not consistently used to notify advocates when a client requests a fair hearing; she recommended adding a checkbox on the form so departments automatically notify a designated representative. “If the…