Municipal leaders, police and housing providers tell committee Vermont's homelessness response is fragmented and under-resourced

Municipal officials, police and nonprofit housing providers told a legislative committee during testimony on H.91 that Vermont's system for responding to homelessness is fragmented, under-resourced and in need of structural changes.

Chief Maureen Hardy, Brattleboro police chief and interim emergency management director, said Brattleboro faces repeated gaps in shelter and service capacity and urged more tailored supports for different groups, including families, older Vermonters, veterans and people with disabilities. "I feel like they don't have the capacity," Hardy said of many older adults who fear losing services. "They don't have any hope."

The Vermont League of Cities and Towns (VLCT), represented by Josh Hanford, director of intergovernmental relations, and Samantha Sheehan, municipal policy and advocacy specialist, told the committee municipalities are bearing uncompensated costs and risks when local governments are asked to respond to unsheltered homelessness. VLCT recommended the state lead on shelter provision, expand field-based services and invest in stabilization beds and longer-term housing supply. "Municipalities should not be shelter providers," Hanford said. "They are a partner, but not the primary shelter provider."

Chris Donnelly of Champlain Housing Trust described his group's work operating motel rooms and creating community-based shelter and housing. Donnelly said Champlain Housing Trust will have a little over 200 motel rooms online and is building or renovating hundreds of housing units, but financing remains the limiting factor. "We need to be doing both," Donnelly said, referring to immediate shelter and longer-term housing.

Why it matters: Witnesses told the committee that without clearer state leadership and consistent, predictable funding, towns will continue to shoulder emergency responses they are not staffed or financed to sustain. Municipal officials said local governments are absorbing costs for public safety, sanitation, and emergency medical responses while lacking liability protections and local revenue tied to state-occupied properties.

Key details and supporting evidence

- Local-police perspective: Chief Maureen Hardy (Brattleboro, chief of police; acting emergency management director) said Brattleboro lacks space and service capacity, and that needs differ for families, older adults, people with disabilities and veterans. Hardy described incidents in which families housed through a hotel program felt unsafe and ultimately relocated after criminal activity around the housing.

- VLCT recommendations: Hanford and Sheehan said VLCT represents municipalities statewide and urged (1) state-led shelter provision rather than expecting municipalities to run shelters, (2) more field-based services and funding to eliminate coordinated-entry wait lists, (3) funding stability for service providers (less reliance on short-term competitive grants), (4) liability protections for municipalities comparable to state caps discussed in H.138, and (5) authority or revenue tools for local governments, such as expanded local-option taxes or adjustments to pilot payments for towns hosting state-occupied properties.

- Housing-provider perspective: Chris Donnelly (Champlain Housing Trust) said CHT operates more motel rooms than any other single provider in the state and is advancing projects to add permanent housing. He gave examples: the former Champagne Inn renovation (36 year-round beds and 40 seasonal beds), a Shelburne project of 68 apartments (20 set aside for people exiting homelessness), and roughly 200 units currently under construction across several towns with additional projects in the pipeline. Donnelly emphasized that coordinated entry functions but lacks downstream housing stock.

- Fiscal and programmatic specifics named by witnesses: ARPA-funded technical assistance (allocation to municipalities), opioid-settlement recommendations for stabilization beds, property transfer tax funding for Vermont Housing & Conservation Board (VHCB) pipeline finance, and a referenced bill to create municipal liability caps (H.138). Witnesses also noted local examples where municipalities host state-funded motel placements but do not receive corresponding local-option tax revenues.

Quotes (selected and attributed)

"I feel like they don't have the capacity. And sometimes when I talk to particular elderly people that are worried about becoming unhoused, they... don't have any hope," Chief Maureen Hardy said of older residents in Brattleboro.

"Municipalities should not be shelter providers," said Josh Hanford, director of intergovernmental relations for the Vermont League of Cities and Towns. "They are a partner, but not the primary shelter provider."

"We need to be doing both," Chris Donnelly of Champlain Housing Trust said of operating immediate shelter and building long-term housing. "We just need to have them. We just need to continue."

Discussion, directions and near-term implications

- Discussion only: Witnesses repeatedly described the current mix of motel placements, nonprofit shelter operators and municipal responses as a patchwork that is straining capacity; no formal action was taken during the hearing excerpt.

- Policy direction suggested in testimony: VLCT urged that the legislature consider (a) funding and operating more community-based shelters statewide rather than depending on municipalities to run shelters, (b) expanding field-based outreach and service capacity, (c) prioritizing stabilization beds in opioid-settlement spending, and (d) examining municipal liability protections (H.138) and local revenue adjustments for towns hosting state placements.

- Implementation constraints noted: Witnesses cautioned that building the housing supply is required to resolve the underlying crisis and that community-based shelters require operators, security plans and staffing; several witnesses said short-term grant funding hampers long-term planning.

Ending

Witnesses asked the committee for clearer, sustained state funding and operational leadership on shelter and housing creation while offering examples of local and nonprofit efforts already underway. The committee continued its consideration of H.91 and related bills, and committee members and witnesses referenced follow-up on H.138 and H.218 during the session.