House Human Services reviews H.91 to establish emergency temporary shelter program

The Vermont House Human Services Committee heard a section-by-section reading of H.91, a bill to establish an emergency temporary shelter program within the Department for Children and Families (DCF), during a committee meeting this week. Katie Mithen, Office of Legislative Counsel, reviewed the bill for committee members and staff.

Mithen said the bill’s stated intent is “that the emergency temporary shelter program ... is a step towards ensuring that unsheltered homelessness be eliminated in Vermont and interim shelter opportunities be available to provide a stable pathway to permanent housing for all Vermonters experiencing homelessness.” The draft also lays out goals intended to reduce relocations between temporary sites, emphasize noncongregate shelter, and require housing-first and trauma-informed practices.

Committee members heard how the bill would create both a short-term advisory committee made up of individuals with lived experience of homelessness and an operating program within DCF that would take effect later. The advisory committee would be appointed by coordinated entry lead agencies, be reimbursed for up to 12 meetings from DCF appropriations, and be repealed on July 1, 2029; the program provisions are scheduled to take effect July 1, 2026.

Under the draft statute, DCF would operate the emergency temporary shelter program to temporarily shelter households that meet enumerated eligibility criteria and to do so in a manner that preserves participant dignity and advances housing stability. The bill prioritizes “community-based shelter” provided by housing and shelter…