MIDDLEBURY— Josh Lisenby is worried about July 1. He’s trying to figure out where he’ll sleep and store his personal belongings when he has to leave the Courtyard Middlebury, a Marriott hotel, less than a week from now.
Like many Vermonters experiencing homelessness, Lisenby has been living in a hotel during parts of the Covid-19 pandemic. But at the beginning of next month, when the state tightens eligibility for the emergency program, Lisenby will be among hundreds of people who will be forced to leave the housing that’s been available to them since March 2020.
Lisenby, 45, who has worked in restaurants over the years, is currently unemployed. He struggles with anxiety and says his mental health has made it difficult to hold down a job.
“I could probably go out and get a job now, but I worry that if I do that, all the stuff is going to start adding up again and I’m going to end up losing that job and having another bad mark on my record,” Lisenby said.
He’s now looking for mental health treatment for the first time in his life, and hopes that getting a formal diagnosis could help him qualify for housing. He’s already filled out housing applications, but doesn’t expect to lock down a new residency before the looming July 1 date. For now, he plans on living in a tent when he leaves the hotel later this week.
“I don’t know if it’s the smartest thing, but the best option for me is probably going to be camping in the woods somewhere,” he said.
Throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, the state has placed people experiencing homelessness in motels and hotels across the state. But after Gov. Phil Scott lifted all pandemic restrictions last month, and as the economy reopens, state officials are ending unlimited eligibility for the emergency housing program.
Certain people — including those who are caring for children, have disabilities, or who are fleeing dangerous or life threatening conditions — can extend their stays. Some will be able to apply to stay in the program indefinitely.
On Wednesday, the state was renting nearly 1,600 rooms for households experiencing homeless across the state. But the officials expect that on July 1, more than 700 households will no longer be eligible for emergency housing.
The phaseout of the emergency pandemic program is alarming advocates and community service providers, who say the transition is too abrupt, and there isn’t enough housing or shelter capacity for people who have to exit hotels and motels this week.
“There’s literally nowhere for these people to go,” said Mairead O’Reilly, an attorney with Vermont Legal Aid. “We’re really sort of about to jump off a cliff, and we’re about to tread into the next health crisis with hundreds of Vermonters having to find somewhere to camp.”
The Scott administration says hotels and motels were never meant to be a permanent solution to the state’s homelessness crisis.
Mike Smith, secretary of the Vermont Agency of Human Services, said this week that people living in hotels for long periods experience isolation, and have a harder time obtaining meals, mental health treatment and other services.
Smith said the state’s goal is to help households that are leaving hotels and motels find permanent housing or shared living arrangements. The state is giving households exiting the program $2,500 to help them transition to new housing, and Smith said they will continue to have access to emergency benefits, including food and rental assistance.
“These households are not just being ‘kicked to the curb’ without supports or services,” Smith wrote in a commentary this week.
Officials also expect the state will eventually lose access to money from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which the state has relied on to fund the emergency housing program. Maintaining the program during the current fiscal year, which expires June 30, cost $79 million.
The plan to phase out the emergency housing program was drafted by a working group of legislators, state officials, community service providers and other groups. including Legal Aid.
‘Frantically’ preparing for July 1
As July draws closer, Rick DeAngelis, executive director of Good Samaritan Haven, a homeless shelter in Barre, said his staff has been “frantically” trying to boost capacity in preparation for an increase in demand.
He’s hoping to add 50 more beds in the next six months, on top of the 25 the shelter already has available. But he doesn’t expect he’ll be able to have them ready before July 1.
DeAngelis said Vermont’s approach to addressing homelessness during the pandemic was “one of the best efforts in the nation.”
“But here we are, we’re coming to an end, and I can’t say that I support where we are right now,” he said. “It’s pretty scary.”
DeAngelis would like to see a more gradual transition out of the emergency housing program.
“The idea of maybe 100 people in Washington County just leaving motel rooms that they’ve been in for a year, many of them, to me that’s not an acceptable solution,” he said.
The state budget Scott signed into law this month contains $190 million in additional spending for housing, including funds to build out shelter capacity, and invest in units for low-income residents.
But DeAngelis said there will be a “lag time” before the new affordable housing is available — meanwhile, the housing market in Washington County is “wicked tight.”
Vermont Legal Aid argues that the Scott administration’s stricter rules for the emergency housing program aren’t “legally valid.” The organization contends that, according to the Vermont Administrative Procedures Act, the proposed rules should have been filed with the Legislature and the Vermont Secretary of State’s Office.
The rules ultimately need approval from the Legislative Committee on Administrative Rules, and the public is supposed to have a chance to comment on the proposed changes before they can take effect, Legal Aid says.
But the administration maintains it has the authority to make the rule change on its own.
A bill that the Legislature passed and the governor signed gave the Agency of Human Services more authority to change rules surrounding health care and human services, according to state officials.
‘As quickly as we can’
Geoffrey Pippenger, senior adviser to the commissioner of the Department for Children and Families, which runs the emergency housing program, said the administration realizes “there are resource limitations in terms of permanent housing” for those experiencing homelessness.
But he said state officials hope they will be able to work with community partners and others to “bring as many resources online as possible as quickly as we can.”
The state is working with shelters to expand capacity and he said some who are receiving housing through the program may go on to live with friends or family, or use their $2,500 stipends to continue to pay for rooms in hotels and motels.
“There are a range of different situations that people might be able to find post-July 1, hopefully with the help of their case managers,” Pippenger said.
Pippenger also said the number of motel and hotel rooms available for emergency housing is decreasing. Since the spring, the state has lost its ability to rent about 300 rooms — likely because travelers and tourists are returning to the state as the pandemic subsides.
“We just are not going to have the rooms to use for the motel voucher program at the scale we had during the pandemic,” Pippenger said.
Overall, the motel voucher program will continue to serve many more Vermonters than it did before Covid-19. Pre-pandemic, at most, 200 to 300 households would be staying in hotels and motels at a given time.
That number will be larger going forward, as eligibility for the program will still be much broader than it used to be.
Pippenger noted that households that include people with children, disabilities, those who are elderly, or who are survivors or domestic and sexual violence will still have access to hotel and motel rooms.
‘It kind of saves you’
At the Courtyard Marriott in Middlebury, Sarah Trombly, 27, who has been living at the hotel for the last two months, sat in front of a laptop next to her 4-year-old daughter, Attalyn. Boxes of colored pencils were set out on the table. At the side of the room, food, including sandwiches prepared by a local homeless shelter, was available for residents.
Because Trombly has a child and disabilities, including severe memory loss, she and her daughter won’t have to leave the hotel on July 1.
But she doesn’t plan on living there for long. Each day she searches for permanent housing. In front of her, on a piece of paper in neat handwriting, was a list of nearby towns and real estate websites.
For now, as she tries to find a two-bedroom apartment she can afford, she’ll stay at the Marriott.
“It kind of saves you. It gives you somewhere to live that’s safe; everyone here is nice,” Trombly said of the emergency housing program.
“It’s a roof over the head,” she said.
