[{"_1":2,"_99":-5,"_100":-5},"loaderData",{"_3":4,"_26":27},"root",{"_5":6,"_17":10,"_18":19,"_20":21,"_22":10,"_23":-5,"_24":-5,"_25":10},"user",{"_7":8,"_9":10,"_11":10,"_12":-5,"_13":-5,"_14":15,"_16":-5},"roles",[],"isAuthenticated",false,"isPremium","planName","subscriptionStatus","featureFlags",{},"insightsBudget","isDevelopmentHost","userPreferences",{},"recaptchaSiteKey","6LcvOJcUAAAAAHsB-gPGfGktcRlKpH7OTIU_dMTD","isImpersonating","impersonation","affiliateStatus","isFreedomPortal","routes/v2/article/layout",{"_28":29,"_30":31},"notFound",true,"relatedArticles",[32,75,87],{"_33":34,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":40,"_41":42,"_43":44,"_45":46,"_47":48,"_49":50,"_51":52,"_53":54,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":60,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":66,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":72,"_73":56,"_74":56},"mediaId",6248493,"mediaKeyId","3210275-d14d36550a9016ffd50ab386d928ff1f","parentId",3210275,"title","Bennington providers describe full shelters, encampments and urgent need for outreach funding","audioSeconds",462,"startMs",1579000,"endMs",2041000,"viewUrl","/Search/View?dp=1&key=3210275-d14d36550a9016ffd50ab386d928ff1f&start=1579&end=2041","thumbnailUrl","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/3210275-d14d36550a9016ffd50ab386d928ff1f/thumbnail_1579000.jpg","articleUrl","/articles/6248493/Vermont/Bennington-providers-describe-full-shelters-encampments-and-urgent-need-for-outreach-funding","mediaUrl","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6248493-110dad93c4b5d0834ae510d967b7d985/orig.mp4?Expires=1771196981&Signature=Hg4oooL7~24b9XqZ9a2TCfqfX6hc5OBRjTBQFePxP85oy0y6JG61iWYTfYdn4d1NcduiNZ4OUkwD64FFe1b0sd~P-JhWukPkSGj2hMeONHtntwJfm5pGwt-NiJ2R0sHLqOZlBmGasWWnfHwzap3vLmo1wWRvGuA0~2ox1yaCM4KeqrGjpFYuEcstMaM3EeraNOd9bk-OD-Zg24FEVJdUnErxJok0zpkecyunKfAgDJEJojOZPhct51GqnUrRPuzmrwCj-aYxPijGw3QpDD-UU0x8ei5nEt71yZ2zr8n3v7XfX7j8mrcxiYwMiAgLMctEbJ-j1OI03PCC~XSS3x65iw__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","author","","date","2025-05-07T06:14:37Z","article","Local providers from Bennington County told the House Human Services Committee that limited shelter space, closed encampments and reduced program capacity are producing visible unsheltered homelessness and complicating the coordinated-entry count.

\"We are a 16 bed adult only shelter at 1 of our shelter locations,\" Carissa Myers, executive director of Bennington County Coalition for the Homeless, told the committee. She said Bennington County has one other family shelter with nine rooms that can house up to 36 family members, and that both locations are routinely full.

Myers described scenes of cribs and belongings being moved as encampments closed, and said intake operates by phone only and requires rapid arrival to claim a bed: \"If you can call and you can be there in 15 minutes, great, you have the bed.\" She told the committee that on one recent month seven clients exited to unsheltered status and the local lead agency lacks capacity to follow up when people lose phones or refuse further contact.

Myers said Bennington's coordinated-entry master list showed 287 households under consideration the morning she pulled the report. She also cited a Georgia Assistance (GA) program figure for the Bennington district reported in the state report: \"GA program, 99 rooms serving … 180 people,\" illustrating a mismatch between need and local capacity.

Advocates sought funding for outreach and essential-service positions to follow people who leave motels or shelters and said the 33 ERAP case-manager positions funded for hotel work did not include every provider. Myers recommended raising the GA motel 80-night cap to buy time for shelters to find long-term funding and expand capacity.

The committee also heard a personal testimony from Marie, who described becoming homeless after several family deaths and eventually finding an apartment after six months of instability. \"Housing is a human right, not a privilege,\" Marie told the committee, urging stronger, targeted support for people who rely on disability income and other fixed incomes.

Committee members thanked the providers for their work and asked for follow-up data; Myers said she could provide caseload and contact-hour information on request.

No formal committee actions were taken during the session; speakers asked the committee to consider program-level funding and outreach supports in the final budget.","mediaType","Video","parentTitle","House Human Services - 2025-05-06 -1:00 PM","oneSentenceSummary","Bennington County advocates told the committee that local shelter capacity is small, encampments are appearing as motel caps are reached, and outreach and program-level funding are essential to track and serve people exiting coordinated entry.","taxTitle","Human Services, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, Committees, Legislative , Vermont","taxId",35147,"location","Vermont","headline","shortSummary",{"_33":76,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":77,"_41":78,"_43":79,"_45":80,"_47":81,"_49":82,"_51":83,"_53":84,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":85,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":86,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":72,"_73":56,"_74":56},6248498,"Advocates say GA process failures and notice confusion harmed vulnerable clients; two recent clients died during appeals",778,2860000,3638000,"/Search/View?dp=1&key=3210275-d14d36550a9016ffd50ab386d928ff1f&start=2860&end=3638","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/3210275-d14d36550a9016ffd50ab386d928ff1f/thumbnail_2860000.jpg","/articles/6248498/Vermont/Advocates-say-GA-process-failures-and-notice-confusion-harmed-vulnerable-clients-two-recent-clients-died-during-appeals","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6248498-d5fee49aa50aa7d67bf7a5fa99c36d7f/orig.mp4?Expires=1771196981&Signature=VrTgAx6lRnHnzC3Dr9n1wjA1Tyh32GMbNIBnQbk5m0GQS67FNqoGdYIUNUpMjhjHFcXd8NVn1bc7s7Mjhx9884isvWUvZvoQGlUZ2k-TKanGybsbqfUr9YGcJCmcKu-p9SaS84Or5EjPZ9xpTc5U7kLZHPAb80bEBy8MIUB-L12ohBqFF1SZxjGvshr9IH7LjCdoTNdwz-On4i9igsKp7pOzZAMXG2xBrXWE0alcCmGbHPNFYQ6~poSffJETkleo-j~a8LHFazGqFPytn~Y31QN4oTkF3kZv1NH36OdtxKvTsFO0vgzuN80~1QlG5O1~g3nMfY7BgpQukw2pLXP7lA__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","Brenda Siegel, executive director of End Homelessness Vermont, told the House Human Services Committee that clients who needed reasonable accommodations and continued shelter faced repeated administrative barriers during recent program renewals.

Siegel described multiple clients who had to pursue fair hearings to keep emergency shelter and said one client who had been supported through multiple accommodations later died. “We'd worked with him for many years… a little over a week ago, he died,” Siegel said, describing a client who had been in organ failure and on oxygen and who was sheltered after an overturned decision but later died.

Siegel said her organization and partners requested many fair hearings in recent weeks; she reported 14 fair hearings requested in the prior week and a half, and said preliminary hearings had so far favored clients. She told legislators that reasonable accommodations for communication and medical needs had been “obstructed in the last month,” complicating access for clients with disabilities.

Committee members asked about a recent court action. Siegel said a judge had ordered a temporary stay on evictions tied to insufficient notice; she said auto-renewals began but notices were inconsistent and some clients remained unclear whether they had the required individualized notice. “We asked the temporary restraining order, our clients that are being exited today should not be exited,” she said, describing confusion over who received renewal notices and whether notices met the court order’s requirements.

Siegel also previewed analysis from an ongoing End Homelessness Vermont report based on interviews with 200 people. Key findings she cited included: 74.6 percent reporting physical health conditions, 92.5 percent reporting mental health challenges, 37 percent reporting learning disabilities, and 9 percent of the total interviewees unable to read or write. She said 39 percent of interviewees first experienced housing insecurity as a child, and 27 percent of that group had been in foster care.

Siegel said the administrative challenges were causing stress for clients and staff on the ground, and that legal aid and the Human Services Board were engaged in some cases. She told the committee that preliminary hearings had “won every one” so far but that the volume of hearings and denials indicated systemic problems with how GA qualifications, accommodations and renewals were being administered.

The committee did not issue decisions during the testimony; members thanked advocates for the data and accounts and asked for written copies of the ongoing report when available.","End Homelessness Vermont and other advocates told the House Human Services Committee that repeated requests for reasonable accommodations, delayed fair hearings and unclear renewal notices left medically vulnerable clients at risk and contributed to recent deaths.",{"_33":88,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":89,"_41":90,"_43":91,"_45":92,"_47":93,"_49":94,"_51":95,"_53":96,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":97,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":98,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":72,"_73":56,"_74":56},6248503,"Advocates warn budget cuts will deepen Vermont shelter gap as need rises",345,216000,561000,"/Search/View?dp=1&key=3210275-d14d36550a9016ffd50ab386d928ff1f&start=216&end=561","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/3210275-d14d36550a9016ffd50ab386d928ff1f/thumbnail_216000.jpg","/articles/6248503/Vermont/Advocates-warn-budget-cuts-will-deepen-Vermont-shelter-gap-as-need-rises","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6248503-60662a59c767fdbe6391e4a9995bdb59/orig.mp4?Expires=1771196981&Signature=NRQpvmLTfIjPi2Jrq-JFJxHW2NoM6OZqy56MEZX6RJn2bDRkndxwgx6kNmaz~YUf1MpF4XQhSJkaQBhYkXotG4Gfklh8Pp-kgvLzIj5t28MuIBFeAkyPdl3DyNLluLu8q90P1P1GSU~Ee0FmVx5K~xzbj8WxGl-25zyC1zJggBqx55~W3NOAJJMDRkYpSCRNsctU0WUQURRHvMWz4oht7-c2kH8cJjpye3p0SCAwp1VrmMLbQUPqyRMWDzNtxs9PA9TcqNBQQ6erh~rdLDec19qyf3ExSCNQGRWo~yL9i5KMwF26X6Lgxgj3Kdq-EKyFa9v8PskGG0vQuNMvvNZt3w__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","House Human Services members heard multiple providers and advocates say Vermont’s homelessness crisis is growing while state funding to produce affordable housing and support shelter exits is shrinking.

“About half of those homes need to be affordable,” Frank Knecht, executive director of the Housing and Homelessness Alliance of Vermont, told the committee as he summarized the Vermont Housing Needs Assessment. Knecht said the assessment found the state needs between 24,000 and 36,000 new homes this decade and about 15,000 of them must be affordable.

Knecht said coordinated-entry data from March showed 4,971 people statewide — including more than 1,100 children — seeking help through that system, while the statewide shelter capacity is just 655 households. He told the committee those numbers show the coordinated-entry process cannot succeed without more housing and services to move people into.

Knecht also described a drop in proposed state production funding. “House Housing in general's recommendation on the budget was $25,000,000 for BHCB,” Knecht said. He said BHCB had about $60 million in project requests for FY26; advocates had sought roughly $50 million in addition to the property transfer tax revenue. “That number is now down to just $5,000,000 in the FY26 proposed budget that has passed both body,” he said, warning that reduced production funding would mean fewer affordable homes when need is rising.

Committee members and speakers repeatedly urged residents and providers to contact members of the conference committee considering the final budget. Chair Teresa Wood told the room she had heard “reputable” reports that conferees were moving to reduce certain amounts and said public outreach could influence the outcome.

Speakers and providers also flagged operations funding at risk: the committee recommended funding 33 case-management positions to work in motel programs, but advocates said that funding could be cut in final negotiations. Knecht said those case managers are critical because coordinated entry “only works if we have affordable housing and move them into it. It only works if we have services.”

The testimony reinforced provider accounts from the field: when rental assistance caps hit clients, some families have ended up with tents or in encampments, advocates said. Knecht described mass exits when people reach program caps in prior months and warned of future spikes if budget cuts persist.

The committee received data and testimony on multiple related programs: the General Assistance (GA) emergency housing program and the Housing Opportunity Program (HOP), which funds motel overflow and short-term help. Advocates asked the legislature to preserve or increase GA and HOP funds and to maintain funded case-manager positions so coordinated entry can produce durable exits from homelessness.

Advocates framed the problem as both supply and services: without additional production dollars and continued funding for case management and HOP supports, they said, the state will lack the capacity to convert identified need into stable housing.

The committee did not take formal votes during the testimony session. Speakers encouraged ongoing engagement with the budget process and said they will continue to update the legislature with monthly coordinated-entry figures by district.","Advocates told the House Human Services Committee that recent budget changes and limited shelter capacity risk worsening homelessness statewide, citing new housing-need estimates, coordinated-entry counts and a sharp reduction in proposed production funding.","actionData","errors"]

Article not found

Bennington providers describe full shelters, encampments and urgent need for outreach funding

Advocates say GA process failures and notice confusion harmed vulnerable clients; two recent clients died during appeals

Advocates warn budget cuts will deepen Vermont shelter gap as need rises