MONTPELIER – Vermont has deprioritized emergency housing assistance for certain individuals under 50, including some who are disabled. In a joint statement, December 10, The Housing and Homelessness Alliance of Vermont, along with Good Samaritan Haven, Vermont Center for Independent Living and End Homelessness Vermont raised an alarm with concern over the changes to state procedures.
The statement was prompted by an announcement earlier that day from the Economic Services Division of the Vermont Department for Children and Families about the implementation of an administrative procedure to prioritize providing emergency housing assistance. Under the new procedure, certain individuals who are eligible for General Assistance (GA) Emergency Housing Assistance under Act 113 will be deprioritized, including disabled Vermonters under 50 years old.
Julie Bond, executive director of Good Samaritan Haven said, “Implementation of the administrative procedure puts further dire pressure on the shelter organizations around Vermont. Shelter providers are already stretched thin and over capacity in sheltering those who have lost housing options through the motel voucher program this fall.”
The new procedure means people who are under the age of 50 and living with disabilities, who don’t meet another priority category are not able to access emergency housing through the same process as any other individual eligible under ACT 113. They will have limited access to get emergency state housing assistance and shortened time frames when they do.
“There are very few additional options and people who are being forced to sleep and dwell outside are losing their lives,” said Bond. “When we center our efforts on human well-being, we must ease bureaucratic restrictions that block access to shelter, including those tied to the motel voucher program.”
“We’re at a crossroads,” said Sarah Launderville, executive director of the Vermont Center for Independent Living. “Literally people with disabilities are dying and the temperature and snowfall is only going to get worse. . . We see local communities bearing the responsibility of something they should have support at the state level for and they just don’t.
The new procedures establish a definition of vulnerable individuals who are to be prioritized when the number of eligible households exceeds 90% of either a 1,100 per night room cap, or hotel capacity when the cap is not in place.
Vulnerable individuals are children 19 years of age or under; those who are pregnant; are experiencing violence that caused the household to lose its housing or those 65 years of age or older. To qualify, a person who is 50 years of age or older, but less than 65, must also have a disability; have experienced the death of a spouse, domestic partner or minor child that caused the household to lose its housing; have Experienced a natural disaster, such as flood, fire, or hurricane or be under a court-ordered eviction or constructive eviction due to circumstances over which the household has no control.
With vulnerable individuals prioritized when capacity is low, there is no option available through the state for others, who would otherwise be eligible.
“Vermont does not have an adequate plan to ensure shelter for those in need,” said Frank Knaack, executive director of the Housing and Homelessness Alliance of Vermont. “There is currently a statewide shelter capacity for 580 households, and all are full. The GA emergency housing program is supposed to serve as the back up plan for Vermont’s overstretched and under-resourced shelter network.
“To people with disabilities that isn’t a new message,’ Launderville added. “But it is one that we thought would change after the past couple years of rising up human life experiences of disabled, homeless people. But as of yesterday, Economic Services confirmed with us that people with disabilities under the age of 50 continue to not be a priority.”
“The administration’s announcement that the discriminatory prioritization categories throughout the winter months will be used, is not only inhumane, it does not follow the law, which created no such prioritization categories and clearly states who is eligible for shelter on a first come first serve basis, said Brenda Siegel, executive director of End Homelessness Vermont. “In the last two weeks, multiple people have died from the impacts of living outside. These deaths were predicted and preventable. . . Many of these individuals would have been deprioritized under this inhumane policy.
“It is unacceptable for the administration to continue practices that are causing loss of life in numbers greater than any natural disaster in Vermont. This is a man-made disaster. It is time for Vermont to have a reckoning. We need to decide if we are committed to protecting the most vulnerable. Our state has to own these deaths and we need to learn from them.”
“The unconscionable harms we have seen in the past few weeks are the direct result of our state’s failure to ensure shelter for those in need,” said Knaack. “It is past time for our state to take public safety seriously and make the sustained investments necessary to solve this crisis, including ensuring stable, affordable, accessible housing and voluntary supportive services. Instead of implementing administrative procedures that will place more vulnerable Vermonters at risk, we urge the Governor to use his emergency powers to immediately address this crisis.”
Paul Fixx is editor of The Hardwick Gazette and lives in Hardwick.
