As thousands of Vermonters experiencing homelessness stand to lose their state-funded emergency shelter come July, Secretary of Human Services Jenney Samuelson said she expects some of the estimated 2,500 people to “self-resolve” their lack of housing by the time the state winds down the pandemic-era program.
“There are some of the individuals who we talked to in the hotels who have alternative plans, and they’re waiting for the program to end before initiating those,” Samuelson told reporters at a Wednesday press conference alongside Gov. Phil Scott.
In a legislative session punctuated by political tit-for-tats between Scott and an emboldened Democratic supermajority in the Legislature, there is at least one thing that the two branches agree on: ending Vermont’s emergency motel housing program. Democratic legislative negotiators have cut the program out of their 2024 budget, and on Wednesday, members of the Scott administration defended the move.
The program began during the Covid pandemic, prompted by a historic influx of federal money and a sharp rise in homelessness. Vermont is now estimated to have the second-highest rate of homelessness in the country, behind only California.
Three years later, the well of federal cash has run dry — yet Vermont’s housing crisis lingers.
“We need to move on,” Scott said of the motel program on Wednesday. “I don’t underestimate how difficult this is for some of those folks involved, but it’s time. We have to end it sometime. We can’t keep going with a $20 million a month program.” (The program actually costs between $7 and $8 million a month, according to data provided by state officials to VTDigger.)
Asked what she meant by program participants being able to “self-resolve” their housing situation, Samuelson said there are many options.
“Those could be going back to living with friends and family,” she said. “It could mean being able to find a unit with a voucher that they currently have. There are a myriad of different mechanisms. Sometimes, it’s going back to where they’ve lived before, and that may or may not be in the state of Vermont.”
But even a Section 8 voucher in-hand has proven to be insufficient for many Vermonters struggling to find affordable housing. With one of the lowest vacancy rates in the nation, there simply are not enough units online — and landlords, facing higher demand than ever, can afford to be choosy about their tenants. Roughly 75% of Vermonters who finally receive a Section 8 voucher — sometimes after years on a waiting list — ultimately have to rescind it because they can’t find a home to rent before it expires, VTDigger reported this week.
Samuelson said that’s another reason why the motel program should end: Valuable state resources are being devoted to a bandaid, while that money could go toward building more units.
Some Vermonters, like Rebecca Duprey and her two sons, are experiencing homelessness because they fled a domestic violence situation. Asked what the state is doing to prevent survivors from returning to abusive homes this summer, Samuelson pointed to the state’s existing general assistance program and said, “We are continuing to strengthen the program to support individuals who have domestic violence.”
Pressed about what that entails, Samuelson told a reporter, “Let me get back to you on that in more detail, because I think what you want is a much more in-depth view than what we have time for today.”
While she did not vocalize the real possibility of Vermonters being forced to live in cars or tents, the human services secretary did point to summertime’s lack of “adverse weather,” in arguing that it is the “right time” to end the program.
But in a warming climate with more frequent and extreme heat waves, Vermont’s own Department of Health writes on its website, “Heat illnesses can be deadly.” Asked on Wednesday if she sees a need for the state to expand cooling site capacity come summertime, Samuelson answered, “I don’t think that that’s directly related to housing.”
All in all, Samuelson said “now is the time” to end the program.
“We could keep extending this and extending it forward, but that’s only putting a pause on folks’ lives and the ability to look at what the next step is, rather than helping them make that next step,” she said.
— Sarah Mearhoff
IN THE KNOW
Franklin County State’s Attorney John Lavoie is digging in his heels, refusing to heed colleagues’ and lawmakers’ calls to resign after an investigation found that he harassed employees and created a hostile work environment as the county’s top prosecutor.
Left with no other methods to discipline the first-term Democrat and longtime prosecutor, lawmakers are considering the nuclear option: impeachment. But that road is a long and arduous one, and state lawmakers aren’t making any promises.
— Sarah Mearhoff
PARTY OF ONE
Rep. Jarrod Sammis of Castleton has left the 38-member (now 37) House Republican caucus to form one of his own. The first-term lawmaker announced with great fanfare at a Statehouse press conference Wednesday that he is now a Libertarian — the only elected representative of this party in Vermont.
The reasons for his departure? “I feel like as a Libertarian, I can work better with both Republicans and Democrats,” he told VTDigger. Would he caucus with anyone? “That is still to be determined.” His thoughts on the Mises Caucus, a hard-right faction seizing control of the Libertarian Party? “I can’t comment on the national party, as I represent the state of Vermont, my constituency, not the national Libertarian Party.”
A polite and cheerful Sammis supporter handed VTDigger a pamphlet for an anti-mask event after the press conference wrapped up.
While the national Libertarian Party is in-fighting about whether its more provocative elements are an electoral liability, many in Vermont are arguing Sammis is a symptom of the same dynamic in Vermont’s GOP, which has seen its ranks steadily decline.
“The story of Jarrod Sammis, and his brief political life, points to the systematic, structural ineptness of the current Vermont Republican State Committee,” Jeffrey Bartley, the former executive director of the Vermont Republican Party, unloaded in a 36-post thread to Twitter on April 29.
Bartley’s take? A lack of cash and staff in the party “has left the echo chamber empty and free for the loudest, most radical voices in Vermont to grab control of the committee.” As a result, a hamstrung party chair is “recruiting candidates by quantity and not quality.”
Asked for his thoughts on the thesis that disarray in the Vermont GOP had left it backing unserious candidates, Paul Dame, its chair, replied that Sammis had been elected by the voters of Castleton and that he was “not going to go out and tell the people of Castleton that they picked an unserious candidate.”
But while Dame may not tell the good people of Castleton they have made a mistake, he will likely be asking them to make a different choice next time around. Sammis has been stripped of donor tools, data and communications help from the party. And if they can recruit a Republican candidate in the next election to run in that district, the party will do so.
“We’re not going to help people who aren’t willing to say that they’re Republicans,” Dame said.
— Lola Duffort
ON THE MOVE
The Vermont Senate granted preliminary approval Wednesday to a widely anticipated bill that would legalize online sports betting in the state, tweaking some of the proposed regulations in the version passed by the House.
The legislation would allow up to six companies — such as DraftKings or FanDuel — to operate what are known as “sportsbooks” in Vermont. The bill, H.127, would create a dedicated fund to hold the revenue and fees the state would collect in its role overseeing the market, and set aside some of that money for programs and resources targeting problem gambling.
— Shaun Robinson
Vermont lawmakers’ attempt this year to reform the centuries-old office of the sheriff has taken another step toward the finish line. On Wednesday morning, the House unanimously passed a sheriff reform bill — with significant changes around compensation and transparency compared to the one approved by the Senate.
The chamber’s Government Operations and Military Affairs Committee had hammered out the latest version of S.17 with stakeholders, including the Vermont Sheriffs’ Association. That group unanimously supported the bill as currently written, unlike the previous Senate version.
— Tiffany Tan
Lawmakers on the Senate Committee on Appropriations voted Wednesday afternoon to advance H.165, legislation that would provide free breakfast and lunch for Vermont students.
The bill, as amended by the committee, will set aside $29 million from the state’s education fund to pay for students’ meals in the upcoming school year. As written, the bill would make the program permanent.
The vote came after Heather Bouchey, Vermont’s deputy secretary of education, asked lawmakers not to pass the bill, expressing concerns about ongoing costs amid an uncertain economic outlook.
“We have concerns about the cost of the program and the fact that all Vermonters will be asked to subsidize the meals of affluent Vermonters,” she said.
But senators on the committee voted unanimously to advance the legislation, although Sen. Jane Kitchel, D-Caledonia, the committee chair, did not commit to continuing to support it.
“I’ll vote yes to get the bill out, but I’m not sure how I’m voting on the floor,” she said.
The bill passed the House in March and needs the approval of the full Senate before heading to the governor’s desk.
— Peter D’Auria
WHAT WE’RE READING
The acting chief: For three years, Jon Murad has auditioned to be Burlington’s top cop. Will he finally get the role? (Seven Days)
White River Junction woman recounts being struck by train (Valley News)
Why all those crows roost in Burlington in wintertime (Vermont Public)