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Providers press for more non‑congregate, specialized shelter and integrated state system for people with complex needs
Summary
CVOEO and other providers told lawmakers Vermont’s shelter system lacks specialized low‑barrier and medical/behavioral health capacity for aging and disabled unhoused Vermonters, and urged the state to build an integrated system of care and expand non‑congregate shelter models.
Paul Dragon, executive director of the Champlain Valley Office of Economic Opportunity (CVOEO), told the House Human Services Committee that shelters increasingly serve aging and disabled people who need a higher level of medical and behavioral-health care than many shelter sites can provide.
Dragon said CVOEO’s community resource center in Burlington saw 3,300 unique individuals last year, averaging about 135 people a day, and that 48% of those clients have a documented disability; 24% were age 55 or older and 14% were age 65 or older. “We are seeing a growing number of people who are unhoused and people who are unsheltered with disabilities, including chronic medical conditions who are also aging,” Dragon said.
Dragon and other witnesses urged the committee to invest in more specialized shelter beds — medical respite, psychiatric/behavioral-health supports, and shelters designed for people with intellectual or developmental disabilities — and to expand non‑congregate sheltering (individual rooms rather than a shared congregate model). Dragon said CVOEO’s conversion of Samaritan House in St. Albans from congregate to non‑congregate shelter increased housing placements and decreased early exits driven by behavioral conflicts.
Witnesses also asked the Legislature to support a stronger state‑level integration of services across the Agency of Human Services, Department of Mental Health, Department of Health, and other agencies. Dragon said different federal funding streams, reporting requirements, and IT systems impede integration in practice and recommended a focused work group and plan to build integrated practice and data supports that would permit coordinated onsite medical and mental‑health care at shelter locations.
Speakers told lawmakers non‑congregate shelter plus onsite medical and mental‑health services reduced exits and sped placements into housing, and they suggested Medicaid reimbursement and the state’s 1115 Medicaid waiver could support expanded supportive models if integrated in practice.
Ending
Providers urged lawmakers to fund non‑congregate shelter sites, develop specialized shelter capacity for medically complex and aging unhoused people, and create a state-level integration plan so shelters can reliably connect residents to Medicaid-reimbursable medical and behavioral‑health services.
