Updated at 3:57 p.m.
A state judge on Wednesday signed an order that will give homeless Vermonters with disabilities an additional two weeks to show officials that they qualify to stay in the state’s emergency housing program.
The order comes after Vermont Legal Aid filed a class action lawsuit against the Agency of Human Services on Tuesday in an effort to block the state from limiting eligibility for its emergency housing program.
The program has housed hundreds of Vermonters experiencing homelessness in hotels and motels, and new eligibility requirements will only allow certain residents, including those with disabilities, to keep their housing.
Legal Aid has argued the new eligibility requirements — which had been scheduled to be implemented July 1 — are too narrow, and will leave homeless Vermonters with disabilities without shelter.
But Wednesday’s order, which represents an agreement between Legal Aid and state officials, will give residents experiencing homelessness an additional 14 days to prove that they have a disability before they have to leave the hotels and motels.
Residents who don’t immediately meet the new eligibility requirements can either opt to leave the program and receive a $2,500 payment to help them transition to new housing or “self-attest” that they have a disability, according to the temporary order signed by Vermont Superior Court Judge Robert R. Bent.
Those who decide to stay in the program will then have 14 days to obtain confirmation from a health care provider including a therapist, counselor, nurse or primary care doctor that they have a disability. Legal Aid said the agreement “will protect hundreds of Vermonters with disabilities from losing shelter on July 1.”
“We are pleased that the State agreed to this order,” Vermont Legal Aid attorney Jessica Radbord said in a statement.
“This will provide vulnerable Vermonters an additional two weeks to verify disability status while remaining sheltered.”
While Legal Aid and the Agency of Human Services have reached a temporary agreement on the emergency housing program, the case, which has been moved to federal court, will resume in two weeks.
In the lawsuit, Legal Aid takes issue with the Scott administration’s determination of who qualifies as having a disability. Anyone who receives federal disability benefits, or whose health care professional writes a letter stating they cannot work for at least three months, can still qualify for a motel room.
Legal Aid attorneys say there are hundreds of Vermonters in the emergency housing program who may have a disability but don’t receive benefits and have yet to obtain verification from a health care professional.
The Scott administration has said that the state has expanded the definition of what qualifies as a disability compared to how the emergency housing program worked pre-pandemic.
Mike Smith, the secretary of the Agency of Human Services, said Tuesday that even after the new emergency housing rules took effect, 950 households, or more than 1,400 people, will remain eligible for the program under the expanded criteria.
Before the pandemic, up to 200 to 300 households experiencing homelessness were staying in hotels and motels at a given time.
Under the new rules, not only those with disabilities, but also households with residents who are elderly, have children, or are fleeing dangerous or life-threatening conditions will be able to stay in the program. Some will be able to apply to stay indefinitely.
In a statement, Sean Brown, the commissioner of the Vermont Department for Children and Families, said he was “pleased” with the agreement the state had reached with Legal Aid.
He said the order “will allow Vermonters enrolled in the General Assistance Emergency Housing Program an additional 14 days to gather documentation needed to demonstrate that they meet the new rule’s definition of “disability.'”
“This agreement, approved by the Court, provides recipients of this benefit the time needed to demonstrate eligibility under the new definition,” Brown said.
People looking for information about whether they qualify for the General Assistance Emergency Housing Program may contact the Department for Children and Families’ Benefits Services Division at 1-800-479-6151 or walk into a local district office, according to a DCF news release.
