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Recovery partners, residents press committee to include funding for certified recovery residences in FY26 budget
Summary
Witnesses representing Recovery Partners of Vermont, peer-run recovery centers and residents told the House Committee on Human Services that Vermont needs more certified recovery housing, stabilization beds and first-month scholarship funding and asked lawmakers to include specific increases in the FY26 budget memo and H.218.
Candice Gale, director of community relations for the Vermont Foundation of Recovery, told the House Committee on Human Services that Recovery Partners of Vermont is seeking increases to state funding for certified recovery residences and related supports in the FY26 budget and in bill H.218.
"Vermont certified recovery residences are structured, supportive homes designed to help individuals sustain their recovery," Gale said, describing residences as peer-led, accountable settings that provide a step between intensive treatment and fully independent living.
Gale asked legislators to include a $360,000 increase in base funding for certified recovery residences in the FY26 state budget. She also asked the committee to support three items tied to opioid-settlement and governor priorities in H.218: adding $300,000 to an existing $1,200,000 base in the bill, a $325,000 scholarship pool to cover first-month fees for people entering recovery housing, and support for a $1,000,000 governor-recommended stabilization-bed allocation. Gale said an additional $300,000 from the Opiate Abatement Fund would support start-up of three recovery residences in underserved regions.
Committee members asked for outcome data on prior scholarship funding and on how new beds affected people in emergency hotels and shelters; Gale said she did not have those figures on hand and referred the committee to Jeff Moreau (VITAR) for specific reporting. Gary DeCarlos, outgoing executive director of Recovery Partners of Vermont, and several residents who now work in peer-support roles described operational challenges when beds are unavailable, including longer stays in residential treatment and operators holding clients longer because no recovery-bed openings exist.
Residents and center leaders gave personal accounts to illustrate the staffing and program model. Lila Bennett, executive director of Journey to Recovery Community Center, said the centers work in schools, emergency departments and community settings and asked the committee to include a $1.6 million base increase for recovery centers and $500,000 from the opiate settlement to fund an oral-health initiative for people in recovery. "We took our pain and turned it to purpose, and I have now dedicated my life to breaking the generational cycles of codependency and addiction," Bennett said.
Speakers with lived experience included Joshua Maple and Nicholas Farris, who described how recovery housing and peer supports helped stabilize employment and family connections. "I get visits with my son now and that's all thanks to Journey to Recovery," Farris said.
Gale cited statewide operational data: Vermont certified recovery residences served 226 individuals in 2024, with an average length of stay of six months; 63 percent of residents gained meaningful employment during their stay and that figure rises to about 90 percent when volunteering and education are included. She said Vermont brought roughly 40 additional beds online since July 1, 2024 through four new residences but that unmet demand and waiting lists remain widespread.
Testimony referenced economic studies and prior legislation. Gale cited a Fletcher Group estimate that opiate use disorder cost Vermont about $2,420,000,000 in 2017 and said the economic value of certified recovery residences over 15 years was estimated at $610,000,000 in avoided healthcare, criminal justice and productivity losses. Witnesses also referenced S.186 from last year and asked the legislature to consider exemptions to landlord-tenant law for certified recovery residences, noting neighboring states use such exemptions to support operator capacity.
Committee members asked about data gaps—especially whether people in hotels or emergency shelters are being served by recovery residences or moving through the treatment pipeline into housing—and several witnesses acknowledged those metrics are not yet fully tracked and committed to follow up. Several speakers emphasized the need for a continuum that includes stabilization beds to temporarily house people who relapse or need short-term clinical care so recovery residences can maintain safe, structured environments.
No formal votes or committee decisions were recorded in the transcript portion provided; testimony closed with committee members thanking witnesses and acknowledging follow-up requests for data from providers.
