Committee reviews draft to fold Housing Opportunity Program into statewide HEART homelessness initiative

A conference committee debating H.91 on May 28 reviewed a House draft to create the Vermont Homeless Emergency Assistance and Responsive Transition to Housing Program, commonly referred to in the meeting as HEART, and to move the Housing Opportunity Program (HOP) into that statewide framework beginning in fiscal year 2027.

The committee discussed timing, accountability measures, funding protections for current shelter providers during transition and regional governance. Katie, legislative counsel with the Office of Legislative Council, told the committee “this is draft 1.4” and described the principal change as “moving that timeline up by a year” so the HOP transition would begin in fiscal year 2027 instead of 2028.

The change aims to create an integrated system that spans emergency shelter, regional intake and diversion, supportive services and permanent housing, while addressing shelter providers’ concerns about funding and the use of hotel and motel rooms.

Committee members said they heard extensive input during prior work on the bill. Breckwood, a legislator participating in the conference committee, said the House had “took a great deal of written testimony from shelter providers” and that the draft attempts to respond to those concerns by preserving funding levels during the transition period and by building in supports for shelter providers.

Key provisions discussed

- Timeline and scope: The draft consolidates effective dates so that the HEART chapter is created on…