This fall, hundreds of the most vulnerable people experiencing homelessness in Vermont must leave state-funded motel rooms where they've been living as the state winds down its pandemic-era motel voucher program. The move is prompting outcry from municipal leaders and advocates who say many don't have a place to go.
The biggest exodus - about 230 households - is expected on Thursday when they reach a new 80-day limit stay in the motel rooms that the Legislature imposed starting in July. Those affected include families, people with disabilities, older individuals, those who are pregnant, and people who have experienced domestic violence or a natural disaster such as a fire or a flood.
A new 1,110-room cap on the number of motel rooms the state can use to house those people in the warmer months from April through November also kicked in Sunday. Some households who still haven't used up their 80 days have been denied rooms because there's no space, advocates say.
In the central Vermont area of the cities of Montpelier and Barre, around 100 to 140 families will be leaving motels this fall. The state estimates that about 1,000 households will be out of motels statewide, said Jen Armbrister, outreach case manager for the Good Samaritan Haven in Barre.
Shelters in the area are consistently full and advocates are racing to find housing in a state with a housing crisis that had the second highest per capita rate of homelessness in the country in 2023, according to an assessment from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
