Task force recommends broader eligibility, coordinated-entry fixes and funding changes for Vermont emergency housing program

Montpelier — Legislators on the House Human Services Committee and the Senate Health and Welfare Committee heard the General Assistance Emergency Housing Task Force report on Jan. 15, 2025 and were briefed on a set of recommendations aimed at reshaping Vermont’s General Assistance (GA) Emergency Housing program, which task force members said is now a primary statewide tool for helping people who lack housing.

The report, presented by Representative Jubilee McGill, a task force member appointed as someone with lived experience of homelessness, recommends expanding eligibility categories, reducing some administrative requirements, requiring broader participation in a unified coordinated entry system, funding lead agencies and local service providers more fully, and creating on-site AHS (Agency of Human Services) liaisons at motel and hotel locations that house program participants.

Why it matters: Task force members said the state’s shelter capacity and service system are far short of need. McGill told the committees that Vermont has roughly 500 shelter beds and an estimated 3,500 people experiencing homelessness based on the most recent point-in-time count cited in the report, and said the GA Emergency Housing benefit became a primary shelter tool after the COVID-19 pandemic. The report’s recommendations aim to reduce reliance on motels, speed access to permanent housing, and address staffing and funding shortfalls among providers.

The recommendations follow eight task force meetings held from September to December and were developed from votes on discrete recommendations. The task force voted to approve a package of eligibility changes (reported tallies noted below) and a set of operational recommendations that the task force said should be implemented in statute and by AHS policy.

Key recommendations and details

- Eligibility: The task force recommends clarifying and expanding eligibility criteria to include households with members 60 or older, people who are pregnant, survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking, human trafficking or hate…