The 1,500 Vermonters living in motels thanks to the state’s pandemic-era emergency housing program will be able to stay put at least through Dec. 31, the governor’s office said Monday.
At the start of the pandemic, Vermont leveraged federal Covid-19 relief dollars to house virtually everyone experiencing homelessness in vacant motels. As Covid-19 cases took a nosedive due to vaccinations, the state pushed roughly 700 people from the program on July 1. Those who were allowed to stay based on a new set of strict eligibility criteria could remain for an additional 84 days and then would need to apply individually for 30-day extensions.
Days before a September deadline, when hundreds were slated to be booted from the program, Republican Gov. Phil Scott announced a 30-day pause. The governor’s office confirmed last week that an additional pause was forthcoming but did not say how long it would last.
On Monday, administration officials elaborated on their plans. Motel residents will be allowed to remain until the end of the year, they said, and then can apply through a new state program to become short-term renters in the same motels while they seek alternate housing.
This new Emergency Rental Assistance program, which will be administered by the Department for Children and Families, will cover 18 months of rent. Participants will need to re-apply every three months.
Scott’s office said the governor also wants to expand shelter capacity and establish a rental risk mitigation program. The risk mitigation program would provide landlords and motels with an incentive and added security to work with tenants receiving subsidies, and reimburse up to $5,000 in tenant damage.
The governor is also calling on lawmakers to greenlight using an additional $179 million in American Rescue Plan Act funding to build more affordable housing. Scott in April pitched a $249 million proposal to bring 5,000 new units onto the market this spring. Lawmakers only partially funded the governor’s plan last session, saying that they needed more time to conduct their due diligence. They reconvene in January.
“To make this plan a reality, we’ve proposed to the Legislature historic investments in housing to help people move out of homelessness, benefiting them and their communities,” Scott said in a statement.
The administration’s announcement is a significant — but partial — win for people experiencing homelessness and their advocates.
Jessica Radbord, a staff attorney at Vermont Legal Aid, said the group appreciates the extension of benefits but nevertheless worries about a still fast-approaching expiry date. The group wants an extension of the motel program at least until the end of June 2022.
“We have serious concerns about seeing an end to the pause on Dec. 31. A programmatic shift from residency in motels to tenancy in motels may be difficult to administer and difficult for our clients to access,” she said.
Federal Emergency Management Agency money is guaranteed to cover the cost of the motel program at least through the end of the calendar year. Lawmakers have also already set aside $36 million in federal Covid-19-relief dollars to pay for motel rooms if and when the feds stop reimbursing the state. That’s “more than enough” to keep the program running for a long time to come, Radbord said.
Homeless people and their allies are also renewing their calls for the state to turn their attention back to those who exited the program when the state tightened its eligibility criteria in July. Those people include children whose mother was evicted for breaching the terms of their lease, Radbord wrote in testimony to lawmakers, and a worker with a disability working 30 hours a week.
“There are nearly 1,000 or more people on the street right now that [the administration is] clear they won’t include in the program,” said Josh Lisenby, who participated in the motel program until this summer and now stays at a shelter in Vergennes.
These people are at “risk of hypothermia starting tonight,” he said, and could eventually freeze to death. Lisenby has been camping out on the Statehouse steps with former gubernatorial candidate Brenda Siegel since Thursday to push the governor to reinstate the program according to its former terms.
Lisenby said the pair would release a full statement Tuesday after the governor’s regularly scheduled press conference.
