This story, by Report for America corps member Carly Berlin and 开云体育 reporter Elodie Reed, was produced through a partnership between VTDigger and 开云体育.
A chilly wind swirled around the Travelodge parking lot in South Burlington on Tuesday morning as several residents packed up their things.
Among them were E.J. Bressette, 26, and Abbie Lawrence, 27. The couple said they鈥檝e been at the motel with the aid of a state voucher for the past three months, and that they lost their housing more than a year ago.
鈥淚 just had a lot of family problems,鈥� Bressette said. 鈥淲e lost our property, lost my job all at the same time.鈥�
Having the place to stay has helped them get back on their feet somewhat. They were able to replace lost IDs. Both of them have been looking for jobs.
鈥淏ut it鈥檚 kind of hard to get the work and then not knowing I鈥檓 going to have a stable home,鈥� Bressette said.
State officials say about 235 households exhausted their stays in Vermont鈥檚 motel voucher program for unhoused residents on Tuesday. The Department for Children and Families anticipates about 172 more households will have used up their allotted days by the end of the month.
As of April 1, the emergency housing program鈥檚 loosened winter rules ended for the season. That means an 80-day limit on motel stays, along with a 1,100-room cap on the program, came back into effect on Tuesday. Those restrictions resulted in a mass wave of evictions from motels between September and December.
Democrats in the Legislature had sought a three-month extension for all people sheltered through the program this winter to head off a repeat of the fall, using existing department funds. Gov. Phil Scott and fellow Republicans in the Legislature forcefully opposed the move, arguing the program has failed the people who have used it. The dispute over whether to include the extension in a midyear spending package led to a weeks-long stalemate.
But late Friday, Scott issued an executive order extending motel voucher stays through June 30 for a narrow group of people already in the program: families with children and certain people with acute medical needs.
The 11th-hour extension leaves out a broad swath of people who were eligible for the emergency housing benefit over the winter, including Vermonters over the age of 65, people fleeing domestic violence, people displaced by flooding, and more.
Last-minute changes to the program鈥檚 rules have left participants like Bressette and Lawrence confused. The couple thought they still had time left on their voucher. But their caseworker told them they had to leave the motel by Wednesday, unless Bressette could get a doctor鈥檚 note. As of 10:30 a.m., the couple planned to try driving down to the doctor鈥檚 office in Berlin.
If they couldn鈥檛 get their documentation in hand and their voucher approved, the couple planned to live in their car.
鈥淭his is really creating a lot of last-minute chaos,鈥� said Brenda Siegel, executive director of End Homelessness Vermont. 鈥淲hile I am grateful that some people will be protected鈥his order is not an order that鈥檚 made in such a way that is actually humane,鈥� she said.
Many individuals spent Tuesday trying to call the Department for Children and Families to confirm their eligibility for the extension, facing multiple hours on hold. About 30 people who had already exhausted their 80 days in motels in Barre, Berlin and Montpelier were trying to reach state employees to provide medical documentation, according to Julie Bond, executive director of Good Samaritan Haven, a service provider in Washington County.
鈥淧eople are still trying to get in touch with the state,鈥� Bond said at around 1 p.m. If they weren鈥檛 able to get their voucher extended before check-out time, they would need to leave their rooms, she said. 鈥淭here could be dozens of people outdoors as of late this afternoon with nowhere to go.鈥�
鈥淢edical vulnerability鈥� as outlined in refers to individuals who are 鈥渉omebound,鈥� require a lifesaving device that needs access to electricity, like an oxygen concentrator, or are receiving active cancer treatment, among other stipulations. That is far more limited than the disability criteria used for the program in the past.
Asked how the Department for Children and Families is determining whether motel program participants meet the criteria for the extension, Miranda Gray, deputy commissioner of DCF鈥檚 economic services division, wrote that households can self-declare that they meet the new definition. The department 鈥済oes through a screening and will house for 7 days which allows the client time to get a release signed or medical records together,鈥� Gray said.
Moving forward, Gray noted, 鈥渆ligibility will be closely monitored and assessed based on documented medical needs.鈥� The department plans to introduce a 鈥渕ore specific鈥� evaluation process in which state officials will review medical records 鈥渢o determine whether an individual鈥檚 condition requires placement in a hotel or motel.鈥�
鈥淭he focus is not solely on whether an individual uses medical devices, but rather on their need for assistance due to the use of these devices,鈥� Gray wrote. 鈥淪imply having a device does not automatically mean that an individual is homebound or requires emergency housing.鈥�
The department plans to meet with local service providers on Wednesday to discuss the guidelines of the executive order 鈥� a day after going into effect.
Some service providers, including Bond and Siegel, pooled donations in the fall to pay for some of their clients to remain sheltered in motel rooms after they lost their state vouchers. But as this latest round of evictions begins, they lack the resources to meet the need, they said.
鈥淲e are giving out tents and sleeping bags where we can,鈥� Siegel said.
Steve Anzano, 56, who receives disability benefits for what he described as 鈥渕ental health challenges,鈥� doesn鈥檛 meet the Scott administration鈥檚 threshold for 鈥渕edically vulnerable.鈥� He has 14 more days before his voucher expires at the Harbor Place hotel in Shelburne.
Anzano said he ended up in the motel program after leaving housing where there was drug activity. As someone in recovery, he said he needed to get away from that.
鈥淏ut I didn鈥檛 have a backup plan,鈥� Anzano said. 鈥淲hen you don鈥檛 have a landing zone or something to hold on that鈥檚 buoyant, it gets shaky and hard.鈥�
He鈥檚 going to move to ANEW Place, a shelter in Burlington, where he鈥檒l have roommates and pay a fee with his SSDI income.
He said that will be less comfortable than at Harbor Place, where he鈥檚 grown used to feeling safe 鈥� and having his own room.
鈥淚t鈥檚 gonna be a can of sardines,鈥� Anzano said. 鈥淏ut life happens, you know, you just have to roll with the punches.鈥�
