House and Senate budget negotiators have signed off on a deal that would push out an extra $12.5 million to local service providers as Vermont prepares to end a pandemic-era program keeping the majority of the state’s unhoused population sheltered in motels.
The one-time sum does not satisfy advocates, who have been arguing forcefully that absent robust alternatives in place, the state has no choice but to extend its motel program. And it may not mollify a group of Democrats and Progressives in the House who are threatening to sustain Gov. Phil Scott’s predicted veto of the state budget if additional funding is not identified.
Vermont has the second-highest per capita rate of homelessness in the country, and roughly 1,800 households currently rely on the program for shelter — including just shy of 600 children. But Gov. Phil Scott’s administration has been adamant that with Covid-era federal cash gone, the state cannot afford to continue the motel program, which costs about $8 million a month. And in spending proposals advanced by both the House and the Senate, Democratic leaders have basically agreed.
On Wednesday, as House and Senate lawmakers worked to conclude their budget negotiations, they unveiled the additional one-time funds in concession to the mounting pressure from advocates and the House’s left wing. But the new funds hold firm to both chambers’ original positions that the pandemic-era program end for good on July 1.
“Continuing the hotel-motel program, even for any additional short period of time, really robs us of the resources that we need in order to move forward into something that is going to be more sustainable for us and to invest in more permanent changes,” Rep. Theresa Wood, D-Waterbury, told her colleagues.
The new money will go out to local service providers, including mental health agencies, homeless shelters and health care providers, in the form of flexible grants administered by the Department for Children and Families. New budget language suggests that the money be spent on rental deposits, camping fees and equipment, furniture and appliances, car repairs, and transportation costs.
“The resources here are going to be, you know, put out in the community to help this net of people out there who are trying to help — both the formal and the informal services,” Wood explained.
For those fighting to keep roughly 2,500 Vermonters sheltered, that’s not nearly good enough.
“This budget is a death sentence for Vermonters reliant on shelter for their survival, including many with disabilities and significant medical needs,” said Anne Sosin, the interim director of the Vermont Affordable Housing Coalition. “It’s an abject failure,” echoed Brenda Siegel, an advocate and former gubernatorial candidate who has been traveling the state to collect testimonials from motel residents.
Scott has suggested that he is likely to veto the $8.5 billion state budget lawmakers have crafted over the increased taxes and fees it includes. And House lawmakers who want to continue, at least temporarily, funding for the motel program, are using this as leverage, by saying they’ll withhold the votes Democratic leadership needs in order to override a gubernatorial veto.
Rep. Mari Cordes, D-Lincoln, an organizer of the effort, said Wednesday afternoon the $12.5 million is “not enough money” and “not enough time.”
“By not extending the hotel voucher program — at least for vulnerable populations — like people with chronic illness, people are going to die,” she said.
On Wednesday morning, a group of 31 House Democrats and Progressives wrote to both chambers’ budget negotiators with a list of demands, including $32 million to extend the program. But it’s unclear how many of those lawmakers would hold firm and actually vote to sustain a budget veto. Cordes said the group hadn’t had a chance to talk since the latest plan was unveiled.
“I can’t speak for them. I can say that, at this moment. I’m holding strong,” she said.
Ken Russell, the executive director of Another Way, a nonprofit service provider in Montpelier, said his group certainly wouldn’t turn down the extra funds. “Every little bit helps,” he said.
But he also made clear that it won’t be nearly enough.
“We’re gonna be able to be innovative, and come up with some things, but there are still gonna be many people falling through the cracks,” he said. “And of course, we’re reduced to handing out sleeping bags, and finding places for people to go. I’m sort of sick of saying that over and over again. But that’s what’s the reality.”
