Kathleen Burke, executive director of the Vermont State Housing Authority, told the House committee on Oct. 30 that federal funding levels enacted through the fiscal year 2025 continuing resolution leave Housing Choice Voucher funding “with its most severe funding shortfall ever.” She said the program has been underfunded year after year and that rising rents and stagnant incomes have driven a surge in per‑unit subsidy costs.

Burke said the statewide average voucher subsidy for Vermont households is about $911 per month and that several public housing authorities have seen per‑unit costs increase roughly 38–40 percent over five years. Using aggregate PHA data for Vermont, she said housing authorities are spending more than their budget authority (107.98 percent in the slide she presented) and are issuing fewer new vouchers and serving fewer families than the number of unit months available if full funding were provided.

The practical effect, Burke said, is immediate: PHAs are facing a cash shortfall for December housing assistance payments. She estimated the Vermont State Housing Authority faces a December shortfall of about $630,000 for a portion of that month’s housing assistance payments, affecting roughly 522 households. Across all Vermont PHAs she said public housing authorities would need just over $1 million to make December payments in full; absent that cash, she said PHAs collectively could be forced to exit 943 families from the voucher program.

Burke outlined one-year and multi‑year budget math: VSHA’s annual Housing Choice Voucher budget is roughly $34 million; stabilizing assistance for the 943 households for a full 12 months would require about $10 million at current statewide per‑unit costs. She warned that already‑awarded vouchers that are not funded by Congress and HUD are at risk: she reported 1,180 unfunded vouchers as of Jan. 1, 2025, and projected 1,311 unfunded vouchers by Dec. 31, 2025. She added that 128 committed project‑based subsidies are at risk because those agreements are “subject to funding availability from the federal government.”

Burke and members of the committee discussed near‑term mitigation steps PHAs are using, including limited use of prior‑years’ administrative fee reserves to maintain housing assistance payments for December. Burke described that option as “bad business practice” and compared it to using one‑time money for ongoing expenses, because using administrative fees to pay housing assistance reduces the operating reserves PHAs need to administer programs and pay staff.

Burke urged the committee to advocate for restoration and expansion of federal funding and for exploring state‑level bridge strategies. She reiterated that vouchers are a low‑cost solution to homelessness, estimating roughly $11,000 to provide a family with rental assistance for a year versus much higher costs for emergency shelter or hotel placements.

What officials told the committee was a combination of currently measurable shortfalls and uncertainty about FY2026 federal appropriations. Burke said PHAs planned to cover December payments using non‑recurring reserves only for that month, and stressed that ongoing stability requires federal action or state bridge funding.