Montpelier, Vt. – At today’s weekly press conference, Governor Phil Scott, Human Services Secretary Jenney Samuelson, and Commerce and Community Development Secretary Lindsay Kurrle highlighted the need to continue to limit eligibility for the Hotel Motel program while protecting the most vulnerable – children and those with severe medical conditions, in addition to also addressing the underlying need for more affordable housing across Vermont.
Governor Phil Scott:
Good afternoon, thanks for being here.
As you know, a couple of weeks ago I vetoed H.141, the Budget Adjustment Act. And, I did it for basically two reasons: it spent too much money and reversed course on the wind down of the hotel motel program, and instead, actually expanded it.
My veto shouldn’t have come as a surprise to anyone because along with my team, I’ve been voicing my concerns about the bill ever since it was first taken up in the House.
The budget adjustment is typically a mid-year accounting bill and historically, hasn’t included policy changes or funding that’s not time sensitive.
Over the last few years, the Legislature has taken a different approach to this mid-year truing up of the budget. And although my team has been at the table offering a path forward every step of the way, they chose to move forward without those changes.
However, after the veto, they did agree to move some of the extra spending to next year’s budget.
To me, that wasn’t really much of a compromise because I didn’t say “no never” to their proposals, I said let’s consider them when debating the full budget.
And as it turns out, they found that some of the spending wasn’t needed and ended up not including some of that spending in the House version of the “big bill” that is now heading to the House floor for debate.
And, given the uncertain times in Washington, we need to be fiscally responsible and not spend needlessly, especially when we don’t know what federal funding or programs will actually be cut.
My other objection to the budget adjustment was expanding the failed hotel motel program, which was especially concerning after the Legislature, just 10 months ago, voted to wind it down - not eliminate it like most other states have done after the end of the pandemic, just downsize it a bit.
Now, we know the hotel motel program hasn’t been good for the people in it. Since 2020, there have been 135 deaths. And, Vermont is the only state in the region that continues to operate a hotel motel program at this scale.
But I also recognize the significant housing shortage we face in Vermont which is why I offered three different compromises to the Legislature to continue to wind the program down while keeping kids and the most vulnerable enrolled. And from my perspective, that offer is still on the table.
The bottom line is, extending this program costs a lot of money, like $40 - $50 million every year and doesn’t serve the people in it.
We need to focus on real solutions like building shelter capacity, so those who are experiencing homelessness have a place to go and can get the help and wrap around services they need to get back on their feet and into permanent housing.
We also need to focus on quickly adding more housing which Secretary Kurrle will talk more about in a minute.
If housing is the crisis we say it is, it’s important to take it seriously and invest in the programs that deliver the results we need right now, not five years from now, while also actually addressing the regulatory barriers that slow down, stop, or drive the cost of new housing up.
With that, I’ll turn it over to Secretary Samuelson…
Secretary Jenney Samuelson:
Thank you Governor.
As most of you know the Agency of Human Services and specifically the Department for Children and Family administers the General Assistance or GA program.
Over the last month, I have heard a lot of misinformation about what will happen in the GA program on April 1st.
I want to clarify that on April 1, 2025, the GA program does not end. What takes effect is the natural seasonal transition from the cold weather to warm weather policy. Less than 10 months ago, the Legislature and the Administration came to an agreement on how the program would be administered moving forward.
The Agency of Human Services (AHS) is honoring that agreement and implementing this annual transition which has historically been a part of the program. At the same time the program will continue to shelter up to 1,100 households.
In fact, under the current parameters, nearly 500 households have already been pre-authorized by the Department for Children and Families (DCF) to access a hotel room on April 1st.
That said, it is important to recognize that the GA program, as it currently operates, is no longer fulfilling its life-saving mission and it is failing the people it was designed to protect. It’s not just ineffective — it’s putting vulnerable lives at risk.
I’m often asked: If the GA program puts a roof over people’s heads, how can it be considered a failure? The truth is stark — since the program was diverted from an emergency shelter model to its current iteration at the end of 2024, 135 people have died. Of those deaths, 42% were due to poisoning, primarily overdoses. Two people died by homicide. Many others succumbed to health conditions that may have been preventable with appropriate care.
In 2024 alone, 29 lives were lost.
Not included in these numbers yet, over a two week period in 2025, three more people died. These numbers are not just statistics — they are a painful reminder that the program is failing to protect the people it was intended to serve.
If we saw this many deaths in any of our other programs, there would be demand for change.
In addition to those who have lost their lives, the current GA program lacks the wraparound supports that individuals and families need to move toward stability. It mixes diverse populations — young children, individuals transitioning from incarceration, those in early recovery, and others actively using substances — into the same environment, creating unsafe conditions for many.
This environment leaves hotels and the clients they serve vulnerable to exploitation. Unlike evidence-based programs such as the Department for Corrections transitional housing program, recovery housing, and shelters, which have safeguards in place to identify and address trafficking and safety issues, the GA program lacks these essential protections. As a result, public safety data shows that public safety issues often arise around the hotels where GA participants are sheltered.
Clients themselves report how difficult it is to maintain sobriety in these settings. In some cases, individuals have continued to remain in corrections rather than enter a hotel, recognizing that a corrections setting offers a more stable environment for recovery.
Furthermore, when the GA program was established, its primary goal was to prevent people from dying of exposure to the harsh winter weather. But now, it’s unable to meet even that basic objective. Due to the realities of the program including the lack of prioritization coupled with a limited number of hotel rooms even the most vulnerable – children and those who have severe medical issues cannot access the program in the winter.
The original goal of the program was to provide temporary shelter for people while they identified an alternative living situation. As a result, people moved in and out of the program more quickly, which meant there was capacity to service those in need with the limited resources that are available. Now the program is being used as housing and those that need it the most are often not able to access a hotel room.
The consequences of avoiding hard choices are real.
The harsh reality is that avoiding hard choices is still making a choice. When we fail to prioritize eligibility when there are limited resources, in this case hotel rooms, we leave children and medically vulnerable individuals — those who rely on equipment such as oxygen machines to survive or who cannot withstand the cold due to extreme chronic illness — out in the cold.
To address this, the Administration proposed a compromise to the Legislature through the Budget Adjustment Act (BAA) that would prioritize the most vulnerable and extend eligibility for children and medically vulnerable individuals through July.
AHS has worked with medical and care providers at the Departments for Vermont Health Access, Disability, Aging and Independent Living, and Mental Health to develop definitions of medical vulnerability based on national models and is able to implement a process for review and approval.
Just 10 months ago, the Administration and Legislature agreed on how the GA program would be administered this year. Yet now, in the 11th hour, the Legislature is backtracking on that agreement. This inconsistency makes it difficult for clients to plan ahead and undermines accountability for those who could otherwise transition out of the program and move toward self-sufficiency. Including those who might be able to live with family members or return to their home communities out-of-state.
We know what works — so why aren’t we doing it?
If we’re serious about addressing this crisis, we need to invest in evidence-based solutions that have been proven to work. First and foremost, that means clearing the path for affordable housing.
Affordable housing provides options and permanency for many of our clients. And for those who need more we continue to need units to expand programs that provide the necessary supports to help people succeed.
These include:
- Recovery Housing
- Transitional Housing
- Family-Supported Housing
- Extending and expanding emergency shelters
Hotels were never designed to serve as permanent housing. They don’t offer the facilities, stability, services, or community that people need to move forward with their lives. That’s why there continues to be investment in shelters. Shelters offer resources that are unavailable in hotel/motel – that assist Vermonters with moving toward a more stable and long-term housing option. These services include: capacity to make or access meals, employment and job services, housing services, medical services, mental health services, and economic services.
The state has both extended and continues to work to expand shelter capacity. In the last year, over 100 shelter beds have been added. In addition we are:
- Extending the Williston family shelter with a local provider running it through 2025.
- Extending the Waterbury family shelter through mid-June this year to provide continuity for children during the school year.
- Expanding family shelter capacity with plans for permanent family shelters in Burlington, Rutland, Bennington and Central Vermont.
- Extending and expanding Medical Respite capacity in the state – in both central Vermont and the Chittenden County Region. This would provide a stable and safe place for those with medical needs.
- And, preparing to add an intensive recovery housing site for those who need and integrated model of housing and substance use treatment.
These programs don’t just put a roof over someone’s head — they provide the stability and resources people need to get back on their feet. The GA program offers none of these supports.
Yet, despite knowing what works, this year’s House-proposed budget strips out key programs like intensive recovery housing that were included in AHS’s budget. It also cuts programs that would have increased the availability of housing units for those transitioning out of homelessness or into transitional housing.
Instead, the Legislature continues to pour more money into the GA program — a broken system that cannot deliver long-term solutions. This is nothing more than a temporary patch on a gaping wound.
We need to Invest in long term solutions, not short term band-aids.
The bottom line is this: We cannot keep making last minute alteration and throwing money at a program that is failing to protect the most vulnerable. It’s time to shift our resources toward long-term solutions that address the root causes of homelessness – the lack of affordable housing units - and create sustainable pathways out of crisis.
The choice is clear.
This is a moment for real leadership. We face a clear choice: continue down the current path — which costs lives — or invest in proven solutions that can save them.
The time for action is now. Lives are at stake, and the cost of inaction is far too high.
Secretary Lindsay Kurrle:
Thank you, Secretary Samuelson.
As many of you know, the Department of Housing and Community Development is within the Agency I lead - the Agency of Commerce and Community Development. DHCD – as we call it – focuses on housing policy and supporting unit generation. DHCD doesn’t build homes, it doesn’t operate shelters, and it doesn’t provide services to those who are unhoused.
I’m here today to discuss Vermont’s housing crisis – and how incentivizing the creation of more housing will benefit all Vermonters – including those who are currently unhoused.
Vermont needs 36-thousand more homes by 2030. That will help the homeless population by increasing available housing stock, provide more options for homebuyers and renters, and put downward pressure on prices across the spectrum. Adding inventory also leads to higher grand lists, which in turn helps municipalities pay for essential services and quality-of-life initiatives and adds more taxpayers to lower the tax burden on each home.
The DHCD team works passionately to increase Vermont’s housing stock by supporting efforts to add new apartments, condos, and single-family houses across the economic spectrum in every corner of Vermont. They also work to bring units back online that have fallen into disrepair and out of productive use.
That strategy includes keeping people housed, getting new units online quickly, and putting people on a path to homeownership.
We have programs like MHIR – the Manufactured Home Improvement and Repair Program. MHIR helps people stay in their homes by helping repair things like leaky roofs, broken heating systems, or updating electrical systems. More than 5-hundred projects have been funded to date.
We have VHIP – the Vermont Housing Improvement Program – perhaps the most successful housing program to be created in recent history. VHIP gives opportunities for any Vermont property owner to add or rehabilitate a housing unit, and along the way, creates new affordable housing units. Since the pandemic, VHIP has helped create or bring back online almost 6-hundred apartments– most of them for people in Coordinated Entry which provides people exiting homelessness with services. Another 500 VHIP-funded units are in the production pipeline. At an average of just $37,000 per unit, VHIP is by far the most cost-effective state program to fund housing creation. The $4 million of base funding requested in the Governor’s budget would reliably produce nearly one-hundred units of housing every single year in all corners of Vermont, especially in places like Rutland and Caledonia Counties where we see greater portions of housing stock that has fallen offline.
In the Governor’s Budget we looked to make funding for these very successful programs permanent to bring stability and predictability to those looking to stay in their homes and bringing offline housing stock back online. This was part of a larger ask totaling $50 million for investments related to increasing long-term housing production.
Instead, the Legislature is signaling once again that they are only willing to offer temporary solutions, rather than committing the sustained investments needed to address Vermont’s housing crisis. By choosing one-time funding for programs like VHIP, instead of the permanent support we recommended, the Legislature is undermining a proven program that restores desperately needed permanent housing units.
At last check, lawmakers reduced $16 million from four programs including two successfully piloted by VHFA – the Missing Middle Homeownership Development Program and the Rental Revolving Loan Fund.
They trimmed the allocation for the Vermont Infrastructure Sustainability Fund which is intended to provide low-interest loans to build infrastructure to serve housing projects.
And they have chosen to effectively eliminate the State Brownfields Revitalization Program. Since October 2021, that program has helped clean polluted sites and led to the creation of 700 homes – many of them deemed affordable or for people exiting homelessness. Yet, rather than continuing to invest in proven, transformative programs, lawmakers have chosen to shut it down.
We are asking the Legislature to please invest in the future. While we cannot afford to buy our way out of this housing crisis, we must leverage what we have to ensure we are bringing every building partner to the table to fix dilapidated houses and apartments and to construct new ones where communities are committed to adding more housing.
Housing generation will increase affordability for all of us – and contribute to Vermont’s long-term success. By investing in housing now we are investing in Vermont and Vermonters for generations to come.
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