Witnesses urge state to increase funding for certified recovery residences

Candice Gale, director of community relations for the Vermont Foundation of Recovery, told the House Committee on General and Housing on Feb. 19 that Recovery Partners of Vermont is seeking additional FY26 funding to expand certified recovery residences.

Gale asked the committee to include a $360,000 increase in base state funding in the budget memo to appropriations, and to add two requests in H.218, the FY26 Opiate Abatement Special Funds bill: $300,000 to expand start-up support for recovery residences and $325,000 for first-month scholarships to cover entry fees for people leaving treatment or the justice system. "We are asking that you please support Recovery Partners of Vermont FY26 funding requests for certified recovery residences in the budget memo to appropriations," Gale said.

The requests follow a 2024 appropriation that placed $1,200,000 in base funding for recovery residences; Gale and others said that appropriation helped bring 40 new beds online since July 2024 through the startup of four new residences. Gale said certified recovery residences served 226 individuals in 2024, with an average length of stay of about six months and 63 percent of residents gaining meaningful employment during their stay (a figure the witnesses said rises above 90 percent when including volunteering and education).

Witnesses linked recovery housing to broader public-cost savings. Gale cited a study by the Fletcher Group estimating that opioid-use disorder cost Vermont about $2.42 billion in 2017 and said the economic value of certified recovery residences over 15 years is estimated at $610 million in avoided health-care, criminal-justice and productivity losses.

Several current and former residents described personal outcomes and urged support for the funding. Harley LaRocque, a person in long-term recovery and a membership coordinator for the Vermont Foundation of Recovery, described becoming housed after outreach and support and said the combination of structure, accountability and peer support made independent living possible. "Without Recovery Housing, I know I wouldn't be here. I wouldn't be crying," LaRocque said.

Mary Rhodes, who lives in a women's recovery home in Essex Junction, said the organization "doesn't just offer recovery housing, it offers hope," and described services including group therapy and connections to counseling. Hilary Whitaker, who lives in a women's recovery home in Barre and has participated in medication-assisted treatment, said she had been sober 10 months and credited the residence with improving family relationships.

Officials and witnesses also described regulatory and operational challenges. Vermont currently has a two-year partial exemption from landlord-tenant law that allows temporary removal of residents for return-to-use or violent behavior; witnesses said the sector is seeking a full exemption similar to exemptions granted in Maine and New Hampshire, which operators say makes it easier to scale. Committee members and witnesses discussed how partnerships with housing providers such as Downstreet Housing permit nonprofit operators to focus on services while housing organizations manage property ownership and capital repairs.

Committee members asked about data and oversight. Jim Monroe, executive director of the Vermont Alliance for Recovery Residences, said statewide outcome tracking is new and improving: certification of homes began in 2019, and a phase of data collection and landscape analysis is underway, including adoption of a software platform to track metrics across certified homes. Committee members also asked how many recovery beds exist statewide; Monroe said there are "maybe just under 150" licensed beds in Vermont, and Gale and Monroe confirmed the $1.2 million base appropriation appears in the current budget materials though the specific FY26 increases requested by Recovery Partners of Vermont are not included in the governor's budget.

On zoning and siting, committee members were told that a recent state law treats recovery residences as single-family uses serving up to eight unrelated adults, which witnesses said has reduced permitting barriers. Still, speakers acknowledged local permitting processes and appeals remain possible in some towns and can affect siting timelines.

No formal committee action or vote on the funding requests was recorded during the Feb. 19 hearing; witnesses asked the committee to include the requests in the budget memo to appropriations and to consider future statutory changes to support scaling certified recovery residences.