House advances plan to shift emergency shelter services to community agencies, orders third reading

The House of Representatives on April 1 amended House Bill 91, a comprehensive measure to reorganize the state's emergency sheltering system and shift operations from state-run hotel/motel placements to community-based providers.

The bill, as amended, creates the Vermont Homelessness Emergency Assistance and Response Transition to Housing Program (VHEARTH) in statute and directs the Department for Children and Families (DCF) and the Agency of Human Services (AHS) to develop an implementation plan and funding allocation method for a phased transition. "This bill makes the transition to a community based service system that can be creative, quick acting, responsive, and most importantly, focused on preventing homelessness," said the Member from Waterbury (Representative), who opened the floor presentation for the bill.

H.91 matters because it restructures how Vermont spends existing emergency housing dollars and sets up regional responsibility for shelter and supportive services. The bill would consolidate funding now used for the General Assistance hotel/motel program and the Housing Opportunity Grant program into VHEARTH, require regional needs assessments and planning, and authorize community action agencies (CAAs) and a statewide domestic-violence provider to operate and coordinate shelter and transitional services.

Lawmakers said the change is intended to prioritize community-based shelter options, expand supportive…