A special legislative panel has given Gov. Phil Scott’s administration the greenlight for an amended plan to wind down rental assistance and emergency housing services as federal dollars dry up.
In late August, administration officials announced that several massive housing assistance programs would abruptly ramp down as pandemic-era funding ran out more quickly than initially projected. State officials have since said they’ve identified an additional $35 million to $40 million in additional federal funding, but stressed that this would not be enough to continue benefits as they were during the height of the crisis.
Vermont’s part-time legislative body is not in session right now, which has limited lawmakers’ ability to intervene. But the Legislature’s Joint Fiscal Committee — a special panel that can approve some spending in the off-season — was asked Wednesday to sign off on the Agency of Administration’s proposal for spending the extra $35 million to $40 million.
Officials said they plan to put $15 million toward wrap-around services, including case management and eviction counseling, for three years. They also said they’ll use the money to extend a reduced rental assistance benefit for the poorest Vermonters for an additional three months — through June 30, 2023. Reduced utility assistance will also be available until that date. The cash, they say, will also support the two major programs that are housing Vermonters experiencing homelessness in motels and hotels until the spring.
Administration officials said they would like to grant any surplus funds to the Vermont Housing and Conservation Board to build affordable housing for low-income Vermonters, if the federal government allows it.
Lawmakers gave their unanimous consent — but not before expressing trepidation about the spring, when about 1,500 households could be booted from motels.
“We obviously need more permanent housing. And perhaps we wouldn’t be in this situation if we had been building more permanent housing all along,” Rep. Emilie Kornheiser, D/P-Brattleboro, told administration officials. “That said, I am having trouble seeing my way towards March, April, when a lot of people will be handed tents. … How is moving money to VHCB going to be helping the folks who are handed tents?”
Doug Farnham, the deputy secretary of the Agency of Administration, replied that the state was faced with “hard decisions,” in which it was “impossible to find a perfect” solution. It’s better to plan for the future, he said, than to spend everything on direct financial assistance.
“But I would be lying if I said there would be no impact in April to those populations,” he said. “I would also say, if we don’t make this investment, it would buy us less than a month. So it would not change the timeline in which those households will be facing that same situation very drastically.”
Kornheiser then clarified her question. Of course Vermont needed to plan for the long-term, she said, but what about expanded shelter capacity?
Lawmakers had, in their last budget, granted an extra $15 million to the Department for Children and Families for unspecified emergency housing services. Since the state’s announcement in August that it would abruptly shutter pandemic-era housing benefit programs, lawmakers have demanded details about how the state planned to spend that money.
Farnham replied to Kornheiser that her concern was in part addressed by a separate plan put forward by DCF for that pot of cash. A memo compiled by Harry Chen, DCF’s interim commissioner, said the state planned to use $5.8 million to create or preserve 64-80 shelter beds.
“We have a spending plan — but not a solution,” Rep. Mary Hooper, D-Montpelier, the outgoing chair of the House Appropriations Committee, said right before she and her colleagues took their vote. “I know we have the right elements and pretty fabulous partners who are doing this. But there’s some real serious gaps still in how we’re going to serve the most vulnerable Vermonters. And so — that’s my plea to our colleagues going forward.”