Vermont Legislature SmartTranscripts:

[Rep. Leonora Dodge]: Good

[Rep. Rey Garofano]: afternoon and welcome back. We're in a joint hearing today for Disability Advocacy Day.

[Rep. Leonora Dodge]: We are thrilled to be joined with our colleagues

[Rep. Rey Garofano]: in House General and Housing. And we have group of witnesses we're excited to hear from. Since this is the first time we're meeting a lot of you, we're gonna do a round of introductions of committee members. So I'll start. I'm representative Ray Garofano. I am on Human Services, and I serve 1023, which is Essex And Essex Junction. This is the

[Rep. Leonora Dodge]: first time I'm in the room with my district mate. This is really cool.

[Grace (introduced as Grace Kirkland)]: We'll go.

[Rep. Doug Bishop]: Representative Doug Bishop, I'm on House Human Services, and I represent Colchester's Chittenden 20 District.

[Max Barrows]: Hi. Good afternoon. Representative Derrick Maguire, Robin City Human Services Committee. Hello, my name is Saud Aristis. I serve on the Human Services Committee and I represent Guilford and Fernan.

[Rep. Dan Noyes]: Good afternoon, I'm Dan Noyes. I serve on Human Services, represent Wilkett, High Park, Johnson, and Belvedere.

[Rep. Joseph Parsons]: I Sue Parsons, Duverde, Thompson, Brompton on the general housing committee.

[Rep. Leonora Dodge]: Leonora Dodge. I represent City Of Essex, Lake Chittenden 23, and I sit on general and housing.

[Rep. Emilie Krasnow]: Hi, Emilie Krasnow. I represent South Burlington Chittenden 9, and I serve on General and Housing.

[Rep. Marc Mihaly]: Hi, everyone. Welcome, and thank you for coming out and taking time away from your valuable days to be with us. I'm Marc Mihaly. I represent Caledonia's Plainfield and Marshfield, and I'm chair of the general housing committee.

[Rep. Rey Garofano]: And on the screen, have representative Miguel. You wanna introduce yourself?

[Rep. Jubilee McGill]: Sure. Hi, folks. I'm Jubilee McGill, I represent Bridport, Middlebury, New Haven, and Weybridge. Sorry, I can't be there in person with you.

[Rep. Rey Garofano]: And Rep. Nielsen.

[Unknown Representative (remote; Brandon and possibly Rochester)]: I represent Brandon and Robertson.

[Rep. Rey Garofano]: Thank you all. And again, I echo Chair Mihaly. Welcome. Thank you for taking valuable time out of your busy schedules to be here with us today. And our committee is very familiar with the issues that we're going to hear from. So I'm really thrilled that we get a chance to do this with our colleagues in the House in general. We are going to hear about the Act 69 report on the road to home, and we have a series of witnesses. I have been asked for committee members if we can hold questions until at the end. And we have one hour with the witnesses today, so let's get started. Kirsten, join us. And Max, welcome, Max. Nice to see you again.

[Kirsten Murphy]: Thank you, Representative Caledonia and Mr. Mihaly and committee members for the opportunity to present The Road to Home, a plan for developing permanent affordable service supported housing. For Vermonters receiving developmental services and for the record, my name is Kirsten Hartley, and I'm Executive Director of the Vermont Development of the Community's Billings Council. I was elected by the F-sixty nine State Housing and Prevention Services Committee and shared their work which took place from mid July

[Rep. Joseph Parsons]: and something about that part. We're going to

[Kirsten Murphy]: do things a little differently today rather than my just giving you a whole long description of the report. I am going to provide some key points and then a witness, and then score a few points and then queue a witness, because I think that our witnesses can provide really helpful context for you all. First, just a really quick level set for maybe for the folks in the housing community. The group we're talking about today are Vermonters, who because of an intellectual or developmental disability like autism or Down syndrome receive a package of Medicaid funded supports through the Developmental Disability Services System. So that is Medicaid funded sub services. It's one of the programs that receives those types of services and it's about 3,400 people. Many of you have heard from family members and self advocates and providers over the last, well, with increasing volume, I think, over the last few years about the urgent need for housing for people who receive this set of services and are in fact entitled by CMS rule to have a choice about where they receive that package of services. We have come to you from time to time with requests for specific one time funding for certain types of housing. And we heard loud and clear last session, much as we appreciated receiving some funding, that it would be far preferable as a public policy matter to provide you with a plan. We estimate that there are about 600 people that need some kind of housing or will need some kind of different housing arrangement than what they are currently in over the next five ish years. So thankfully, you, the lawmakers, gave us the opportunity to do that in Act 69. And one of the remarkable things about that committee was that it brought together state decision makers who don't often or ever really get to problem solve together. So he put in motion a process that brought commitment and a representative from the treasurer's office, from the Agency of Commerce and Canadian Development, from the Rock Housing and Conservation Board, from the Agency of Human Services leadership from central office, as well as its Department of Disability, Aging, and Independent Living, Vermont Care Partners, which is the provider organization. And then, of course, self advocates and family members, and Representative Anne Donahue and Senator Allison Clark. The Road Home built on other partnerships as well, and I want to just make sure to thank them. We have created that report. Very much appreciate our collaboration with the Land Access and Opportunity Board, which helps family advocates continue to interface effectively with the Vermont housing experts at the Housing and Conservation Board. And another ally has been the Vermont State Housing Authority, who is our representative here today, but will not be testifying. We really appreciate their expertise. So what did you ask us in Act 69, Section five? Four questions. We're not gonna bury the plea here. We're gonna answer them right now. How long would it take to stand up 600 units of service supported housing for this particular population using existing resources in affordable housing as well as new resources? Vermont can be well on its way in five years, so we felt like that

[Beth Davis]: was the timeframe we would

[Kirsten Murphy]: have worked. Next question, how much would it cost? The report suggests between 56 and 61,000,000 over five But we are also very open to working within available resources. I do want to stress though that it's very important that we take the different recommendations of the Act 69 report and realize that they work as a whole. So funding one thing like a housing tenancy voucher is not gonna be effective if we don't also build houses. I want to stress that. We were asked, are there state policies that need to change? Very likely, yes. Licensing is a very horny complex problem. We write about that in the report. I am facilitating a process right now with a task force under the State Program Standing Committee, the developmental services division, and we are looking at crafting better recommendations around licensing. We didn't have the right people in the room to do that in the Act 69 in itself, but we have already had a couple of very productive meetings and plan to have some recommendations by the June. So, the fourth question, will the plan address the full range of support needs for this group? Because it is a very diverse group of people. Yes, if we plan carefully, coordinate efforts, and use good data. We were particularly urged to make sure that we were thinking about people who might communicate differently and people who might have needs for a 20 fourseven type of support. When we first convened, there was some conversation about what kind of housing would fit certain kinds of service. Our GMSA representative who seated with me here saw right away what the problem was with that thinking. And it became one of the touchstones of the road home. Any kind of housing that meets federal

[Beth Davis]: and state requirements can work for a person with any sort

[Kirsten Murphy]: of need, provided the right support is in place. It's not about the building, it's about the kind of support that's available. Sure, there might be some issues about how many bedrooms are available if you need an overnight supervision, but really it's about the support and the quality of life that's being So supported in that you might be tempted to think, and we were initially, that a person who's fairly independent, oh, well, an independent apartment would make sense for that person. And someone who has high medical needs, maybe they need a group setting. But this is not the way it works in other states. There are plenty of people across the nation that have complex support needs and live independently in their own apartment with support. There are also plenty of people who are relatively independent, but want the opportunity to do what is age normative for a young adult, which is live with friends. That's what most 20 30 do in this economy. So, really, there isn't a profile that computes to a certain type of pathway. With that, I'm going to invite my friend and fellow advocate Max to share some thoughts about how ableism impacts the housing choices that people with IDG are offered. You can go ahead and introduce yourself and take it away.

[Max Barrows]: I have these, but I did not print out enough, but I think I can Yes, they're very nice. Good. So my name is Max Burrows. I am autistic, and I receive developmental services. I've been the outreach director for Green Mountain Self Advocates for eighteen years. GMSA is a disability rights organization led by people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. My comments today are about how ableism impacts housing. People with intellectual disabilities are often looked down on more than we are looked up to. Society sends a strong message that we are not capable, that we are too slow. The mindset is widespread and it casts a shadow over our desires to work, go to college, get married, have children, and live on our own or with friends. Cableism is not just about how one person treats another, it affects decisions that shape our lives. Those decisions can turn into laws, policies, and programs that separate us from others, such as institutions or segregated programs. Ableism is built into systems and it limits our opportunities. One major impact is poverty. Working age Vermonters with disabilities experience poverty and or even twice the rate of Vermonters without disabilities. Limited access to education, employment discrimination, and low expectations all contribute to financial instability. When you combine poverty with a statewide housing crisis, the result is that many people with disabilities have very few housing options. Housing discrimination is also real. A 2024 study found that thirty percent of respondents reported experiencing housing discrimination. The most common reason for disability in receiving public assistance, according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition. Many of us also live at the intersection of multiple identities. We may be people of color or LGBTQ plus. When discrimination happens, it is not always clear which part of our identity is the reason. For me personally, when I face discrimination, I sometimes do not know whether it is because I am black or because I am autistic. We need real housing options, options that allow us to live like people who do not have disabilities. Right now, there are not enough meaningful options to too often low expectations, shape decisions about where we live. Some families worry that their disabled sons or daughters will not be safe living independently. Even those of us who work full time are sometimes not seen as capable of living on our own. We are also encouraged by the proposal to create safe funded housing vouchers for people with disabilities. However, we believe these vouchers should support independence. Under federal HUD or HUD guidelines, vouchers generally cannot be used to live with family. In Vermont, expectations are sometimes made only for people with disabilities. While this may seem helpful in the short term, it can create long term barriers. These may come to rely on that income, which can make it harder for a person with a disability to move out and establish their own house. Housing policy should support independence, not unintentionally reinforce dependence. Housing policy should promote integration. Self advocates want to live in regular neighborhoods alongside people without disabilities. We do not want separate facilities for disability only housing. We want to be part of the community, part of the mix. I urge you to keep these realities in mind as you move forward and people with disabilities deserve equal opportunity in housing, just like any other Vermont. So on that note, thank you for listening and for your work to make housing more inclusive.

[Rep. Leonora Dodge]: Thank you, ma'am.

[Unknown Representative (remote; Brandon and possibly Rochester)]: Thank you.

[Kirsten Murphy]: Because we're dealing with the two chair thing, the whole panel will be available for questions. But, folks, I'm going to ask you to sit back and back to you. So, in the report that wrote home, it was really important to spend some time talking about the context. In other words, what problem at the time has solved. So if you can imagine a pie graph, of the three thousand four hundred people receiving developmental disability services, thirty nine percent or a very big generous slice of pie live with family members. Many people will continue to live with family members, but it's thirty nine percent, which is really high. Another almost equally large slice of pie, thirty nine percent, live in what is called by our system shared living. Just again, to level set for folks who are less versed in developmental services, shared living is a model where the federal tax code permits people in what the code calls adult foster care to live in a household where someone is paid a tax free stipend to provide care. That home provider also receives, but not through Medicaid, room and board, usually through the individual's social security. And then other services are wrapped around to make that a successful model. And it has been a successful model for some people. 39% of Vermonters in the system are using it. But we are bumping up against a time when it is much, much harder to find people who want to engage in that kind of work for the stipend that is offered. Maybe it's because Airbnb is less work. I don't know. Maybe it's just because people can find other ways to monetize the room in their house by renting it to a traveling healthcare provider. Maybe it's because the regulatory environment has changed and there are different expectations about the autonomy and rights of people who live in what's called a provider owned setting or provider controlled setting. Things like having a guest, even an overnight guest anytime you want. Perhaps that's not a comfortable arrangement for some households. So, we are really running into difficulty standing up almost 80% of the residential situations that people have. And of course, the biggest factor is the fact that we have not regularly invested in other types of housing as some other states have. Small group living arrangements, independent apartments with affordable housing complexes,

[Beth Davis]: things like that. And our family caregivers are aging. And with that, I'd like to introduce council member and family caregiver, Beth Davis. Good afternoon. And thank you to the committees for the opportunity to testify today. My name is Beth Davis, and I live in rural Addison County with my husband Mike, our Highland pals, and our adult son Craig. I am one of the over 175 parents in the Developmental Disabilities Housing Initiative advocating for permanent service supported housing for our son, who requires moderate to high support services. Our son, Craig, is 43 years old, is on the autism spectrum. And I'd like to pass one of these pictures each way, because couldn't be here today. But I'll tell you a little bit about him. The pictures I always say are worth a thousand words. Craig is a Lego enthusiast, or maybe I should say expert. He's an avid reader, especially fantasy and science fiction. He enjoys jigsaw puzzles and word puzzles. He loves to go to yard sales and thrift stores to find that perfect present for members of his family. Craig participates in Special Olympics snowshoeing and track and field. He has a son, a brother, and an uncle. If you ask him about his treats for his wife, he will tell you that he wants a girlfriend, a dog, and a home of his own in that order. He does not want to live with his parents. He would like to live in his own apartment, near his friends, where he could walk to the library, the store, and middleware bagels. In other words, he would like to have a normal life. So, I passed around some photos again. You can see some of what his interests are. Craig has lived with two shared living providers and in her home.

[Kirsten Murphy]: However, neither of these models were a good fit for

[Beth Davis]: him, either because they restricted his access to the community, or they were too restrictive with unnecessary roles. In the case of the group home, there was very little sound insulation in an old house, which caused severe sensory issues and undue stress for the other. It was an untenable situation for him, and his psychiatrist insisted that living in a group home was detrimental to his emotional and psychological health. He has lived with us now for four years, because there are currently no housing choices in our community. My husband and I are both retired in our 70s. I know I

[Kirsten Murphy]: don't book that well. And

[Beth Davis]: we did not imagine that our retirement years would include booking after our adult son. About two years ago, I found out that Summit Properties had received a grant from the Vermont Housing Conservation Board to build low income subsidized housings in Middlebury. I immediately formed a committee of parents of adults with developmental disabilities who were looking for housing for their adult children living at home with their parents. This seemed like the perfect solution for our adult children. We met with Summit, but were told that we were too late to the game. All of the subsidized apartments had been reserved for people who were homeless, which I underscore. At this point, I appealed to Kristen Murphy, who I knew, who agreed to set up a meeting with the Land Access Opportunity Board, the Vermont Housing Conservation Board, and the Vermont Developmental Disabilities Council, and the Developmental Disability Housing Initiative leaders. We have been meeting as a group every other week for more than a year to try to figure out solutions to this housing problem. In the meantime, the lack of federal housing vouchers has made that situation even worse. The legislature can begin to right that wrong with legislative actions proposed in the Robe Home Report. The passage of Act 69 gathered all of the leaders and thinkers in the housing and developmental disability community, which was a pretty rare thing to have happened, to come up with a solution for housing the estimated 600 plus adults with developmental disabilities who need housing. Their report, The Road Home Which You Have, summarizes their findings. In terms of legislation, I will tell you about six crucial actions recommended by the Act 69, The Road Home Report. Number one, a new permanent position at the Department of Disabilities, Aging, and Independent Living to support housing development and the housing process for participants in home and community based services. This position is included in S-three 28, a Senate Housing Committee bill. We also need new funding for the Vermont Housing and Conservation Board support developmental disability service supported housing. S-three 28 includes $3,000,000 for this. The Road at Home report recommends 5,000,000 to $10,000,000 per year for five years. We need new funding for rental assistance. The Road to Home report recommends that the state fund rental assistance for participants in the Department of Disability, Aging, and Independent Living's home and community based service programs, which will be similar to the state funded rental assistance for participants in the Department of Mental Health programs. The Road Home report recommends $1 to $2,000,000 per year for adults with developmental disabilities to have parity with adults receiving services through the Department of Mental Health. The Bridge Rental Assistance Program that has been proposed by the Vermont State Housing Authority would include $500,000 for 30 vouchers for adults in the Department of Disabilities, Aging, and Independent Living's Home and Community Services. However, if the Bridge Rental Assistance Program is not funded, there is an immediate need for 30 state funded rental assistance vouchers to support the tenants in the service supported housing that the legislature, you, have already invested in. For example, the Developmental Disabilities Housing Initiative pilot projects in Waterbury and Burlington, and the new developmental disability council project in the Vermont Housing Conservation Board pipeline such as the project in White River Junction. Dollars 500,000 is the estimated annual investment needed. We also need number five, a new permanent position at the Agency of Human Services acting as a central individual coordinating housing development for all Agency of Human Services clients. Number six, the creation of an advisory community for the implementation of the Road Home. And number seven, the creation of a housing navigator for people with disabilities at the Land Access Opportunity Board. Governor Deane promised back in 1993 that all of Vermont's individuals with disabilities would be taken care of after the closing of the Bridging Training School. It is a sad state of affairs that over 600 adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities in Vermont still need housing. It is time for the state of Vermont to fulfill Governor Gayle's promise and provide funding for service supported housing and housing vouchers for adults with developmental disabilities. This should not be the responsibility of their parents and families. As baby boomer parents age, this crisis will only get worse. We don't have ten years to fix this problem. The state of Vermont needs to follow this crisis that was created by a lack of planning for the future. We need to write disability into every housing bill. It is time to treat adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities as human beings that deserve to live with dignity in a home of their choosing. Thank you for your time.

[Rep. Emilie Krasnow]: Thank you so much.

[Kirsten Murphy]: Beth has done a beautiful job laying out a number of the most important recommendations in the road home, the ones that are most likely to come before he was lawmakers. There's one other thing I want to talk about, however. The road home recommended that we really need to be taking full advantage of existing affordable housing programs. People receiving developmental disability services have not always been encouraged to get on waiting lists for federally funded section eight vouchers. My own opinion is that this reflects the ableism that Max was talking about. For whatever reason people thought it was a kindness somehow to say, oh, that housing isn't for you. Well, yes, it is. It's publicly funded housing from members of the public. So we have a number of people who could be served as unit based vouchers become available, who could be eligible for those if only they were on the waiting list. Now, currently the waiting lists are closed because of the fact that HUD is not sending more vouchers. But it is also true that we can have opened those lists for a short period of time for specific populations. And the reports recommends doing that, but only after we've done a sort of systematic campaign to educate individuals and families about the flexibilities that are available in the Section eight program, as well as if there are new opportunities with state funded vouchers as well. And with that, I would like us to hear a bit from my good friend David, David Fry. We're going to do this as an interview because it's the most comfortable way for us to do it. So I'm going to invite you to just say your name and where you live.

[Unknown Representative (remote; Brandon and possibly Rochester)]: I'm David and I live in Berlin.

[Kirsten Murphy]: Great, so David, you've been receiving developmental services for a long time, you're my age roughly, and you have had a lot of different housing experiences. Could you tell us a couple stories about what it was like to live in shared living?

[David Fry]: Shared living wasn't for me. The first home that I lived in, because I'm LGBTQ, they didn't accept me for who I was. The second one that I lived in was more of a very upscaled, they were fairly wealthy and I wasn't clean enough for that. And so they had to put, they suggested me to put powder in my shoes for my shoes to smell better.

[Kirsten Murphy]: I just want to share that they went into your room and did that. That was before we had rules about the right to privacy when you were in a shared

[Rep. Joseph Parsons]: room. I couldn't have people over.

[Kirsten Murphy]: It was kind of

[David Fry]: like really difficult to have

[Rep. Marc Mihaly]: the foods that I wanted.

[David Fry]: And then after that, I lived in a home that was all vegan. Well, I'll tell you people, I do not like vegan. Jay, could

[Kirsten Murphy]: you share what you do professionally? What is your work?

[David Fry]: I work at Wave Robin in the service, I've been there for eighteen years and I know how to repair my own food. It's on rocket science. But for some people with disabilities, it is hard, think.

[Kirsten Murphy]: So then you eventually got your own apartment. Where was that taken?

[David Fry]: So I moved from North Harrisburg. I was in another apartment that pretty much took all my SSDI money. I was providing rent there and I also was paying my lights and I was also paying my heat.

[Kirsten Murphy]: And you did not have a rent

[David Fry]: I had no money for anything. Then my service provider found a home in Burlington that paid half of what I was paying. I have more ability to be part of a community and I can be myself and I live alone and I love it.

[Kirsten Murphy]: And that apartment comes with a Section eight voucher that you were finally encouraged to sign up for. And then this is a real success story. You're now really in a great situation. You're a very connected social guy. So Burlington is great. Thank you so much, David. Thank you for having me. Thank you, David.

[Grace (introduced as Grace Kirkland)]: Thanks, David.

[Kirsten Murphy]: I'm going to continue with the theme of success stories and invite Colleen Ader, our partner in Broad Housing Conservation Board, to just share a few thoughts. Thank you, Pearson. Wonderful to be back with the committees today, my second time with House General today. For the record, my name is Polly Major, the Director of Policy and Special Projects for the Vermont Housing and Conservation Board. I just want to thank all of you for the opportunity to testify today on how we can jointly create safe, stable, and affordable homes for Vermonters with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

[Polly Major]: But I want to start by recognizing the hard work and dedication from the incredible community of advocates that are here with you today. They are asking for equity in housing access, and that is the most reasonable and understandable request. And they're asking for our housing system to do better. And with the Road Home Report, they have helped us understand how to map out a plan to get there. The legislature has long directed VHCb to direct housing resources towards vulnerable Vermonters, including in the closure of Brandon. And the board's role, as you're well aware, is to come in as a capital funder to help build these homes that we're hearing about. But we know that for homes to be successful, especially for this population, it isn't just the building, it's the integration of services, of rental assistance, and the home itself. And so that's what's so unique about this plan, is it's really looking at how do we pull together these critical pieces to meet the need of the 1,600 homes that we need to build in Vermont to serve this population. And we're really, as Kirsten said, we're building off of success here. We've got some good momentum with the legislature passed Act 186 that created a planning program at the Agency of Human Services to test out three pilots around the state, see if we could just get some projects off the ground. And BHCB was able to financially support those three housing projects. And I think we've seen some exciting success coming out of that because not only are those three projects underway and adding homes in Randolph, in Ferrisburg, and Burlington, but it's tested out just different models and it's seeded other projects around the state. So we've seen a project come before our board last month in Hartford. We're seeing the potential to add homes in Ferrisboro. We're seeing a housing developer in Bratiboros step forward saying, I want to dedicate more homes to this population. And so there's a lot of momentum in this moment. As a housing funder, cost is always front of mind for us, and so we're particularly grateful that coming out of this planning effort, there's this renewed focus on balancing safety and dignity with the least restrictive licensing process possible. We've certainly seen in our own pipeline that can be a cost driver, And we've heard from families that it's a concern. And so I'm grateful again for Pearson's leadership to bring us together to problem solve around how can we ensure that we have a licensed city fire that is responsive, responsible, and also enables housing development? So this work has really been a learning process for us all, and the Road Home report captures that learning and amplifies how we can do more of this work together. Recognize Kirsten's leadership here, and she's really welcomed in diverse perspectives from the development community, from our colleagues and partners at the Land Access and Opportunity Board, from Gayle, from service providers, and most importantly, individuals and their families. So we're excited to be part of this work to help carry it forward and really see the potential that if there is the financial capacity to build these homes, we know this community, communities around the state will step up and bring those projects forward and create homes for their loved ones. So much progress, Kelly. And in keeping with solutions, our last witness is going to be Gloria Quinn, Executive Director for Valley Services and an early adopter of innovative housing models. She is joined by Grace Kirkland, who wants to tell you about her journey to greater independence.

[Kirsten Murphy]: I'm to seat my seat so they can sit together. Thanks.

[Gloria Quinn]: Welcome. Good afternoon. We're very happy to be here together to testify today. Grace, you want introduce yourself? Hi. Hi. Grace.

[Kirsten Murphy]: How are you? And I believe Grace wanted to go first. She wanted to testify first.

[Beth Davis]: Can we ask him something?

[Grace (introduced as Grace Kirkland)]: I think, okay. Alright. So, first off, I am here today with my name for Kate. Hi, my name is Grace Coppin. I am here to talk about independent living. I want to make choices about my life. I want to live with a companion, living with a companion that'll help me with reading doctor's appointments, cooking skills. We can do fun things like go to the movies, go on, go on, on, on, on, play, train, football games, baseball games. I am a hard worker. I have three dogs and Red Hat have created three in Ireland. I work on life skills every day. I clean my room. I do my own laundry. I am learning about baking. I have learned how to use the ATM independently. And, Creature Care helps me be independent. I used to check my schedule every day. Thank you for this point of it with my in tenants.

[Kirsten Murphy]: Thank you. Thank you.

[Gloria Quinn]: And my name is Gloria Quinn. I'm the Executive Director of Upper Valley Services and Upper Valley Services is one of the designated of the 15 specialized service agencies and designated agencies. We're designated to serve individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities in Orange County, and we also support people in other counties, namely Washington County. We additionally serve people who qualify for nursing home level of care services in the community within the shared living model. And I know that there's been much discussion about the shared living model. So it is one of the things that I wanted to share, and Pearson talked about this across the network, across the state, for modern slave and variety of places for modern slave intellectual and developmental disabilities, thirty nine percent are approximately with families, 39% in the shared living model, many of which work very well and some do not. They also live on their own with 24 support. People also live with intermittent support. And you had mentioned Grand Care Grace, that is technology access that we're working more on so that people can be more independent the way that they like. There are also licensed group homes across the state from anywhere three to six people living in these homes, and we operate one of those. So people are in a variety of places. There is also an incredible crisis at the end, and I feel like we've been in a precipice for quite a while, and more coming. Part of this is because not only do many people not want to be in shared living arrangements, many people do want to live on their own. Far as you expressed that, many people expressed that. But also shared living providers have already told us, many across the state through the survey, they are getting older, we have an aging population, and this is all what we all know, but to emphasize certain points, many families are aging as well, getting tired, and shared living providers may give notice and they may also end up in a hospital and now we're in predicament. We're all in predicament. So statewide, in the last survey, the recent crisis survey, statewide just in October alone, were one hundred and forty four people who were on the precipice of homelessness with intellectual and developmental disabilities. How we tease things together, open things together as providers along with people and their families to make sure that people aren't homeless is very difficult. Just UBS alone, I remember last year I testified about this and I said at any given time, there are three people who are on the precipice of homelessness and we're trying to pull something together. Today, we have 12. In my report, I indicated 10, that was last week, we now are at 12. So when I say that there is always anxiety and around the clock support and trying to pull things together on a wing and a prayer room, we're talking about there's no housing stock, there are no access to vouchers, there's no funding for this, very little funding. And I felt very privileged to be on the Act sixty nine Housing Committee and learn so much and was able to contribute along with this cross section of exceptional people. But also, UBS is really thrilled to have been a recipient of the Act 186 Housing Growth Dollars that have led to two initiatives. I have an article here, not the digger, if you want to learn more about it. But these two housing initiatives, we partnered with Down Street Housing and through BHCB and BHIP and other funders, great support to put these two housing initiatives together. One is in Waterbury and will be inclusive apartments and a beautiful building, Marsh House, and the other is in Randolph Centre and that is a renovated house for two people and hopefully a shared living provider to make it more affordable and an adapted barrage so that it will be fully accessible and affordable and affordable for anywhere between six to nine people. At six to nine, I'm already at twelve. We are at 12 people who need something different desperately. And whenever I say housing, I automatically mean, in place I wanna emphasize, necessary supports along with the housing. People need a range of supports. Everybody's different and everybody deserves full access to the same type of housing that any one of us would be. Some people do really well when you're alone, some people want to live with others and that works very well for them. Some people in town, some people, grades you were talking about, in town, right, because you work in three jobs, and there are some people who are

[Kirsten Murphy]: going be way more active than me

[Gloria Quinn]: and to be in the country. So it's different for everybody, and we need supports in place for all of this. Another point I would like to make, and again, all of this is for everyone. Vermonters do well, maintaining jobs, contributing to their communities, staying connected to their relationships and the people they care about, all when they have stable housing. And what happens for many people when it's disrupted, and now we have people in temporary housing arrangements, when people have to leave again and again and again, and it's not their home, that is not okay. It's very traumatizing and problematic for people. About fifty percent of the people that we serve throughout the state of Vermont are also duly diagnosed with mental health issues. So this exacerbates issues for people, and sometimes things become unsafe in person and for others around them and for the community. And so when we're talking about what do we do when people are now without housing? We may piece things together with family or shared living providers or staff who will help out for periods of time. We may have to support people at worst in hotels. And we also have six crisis beds throughout the state of Vermont, which our agency actually operates, so I can speak a lot about that as well. There's always a wait list and one person has been in one of their beds for three years, because their needs are very complex, there's not available housing, there's not available skilled staff support, and that's what's needed to make this work and help stabilize for everyone. So what I would say, and I know I'm going fast because so many people make points and you may have questions you wanna ask others,

[Kirsten Murphy]: what I would say,

[Gloria Quinn]: it's really important that use the funding, the resources and the help to help to develop these properties that don't actually even exist. And it's a range of opportunities. Some group, I know based on what people are saying, some group housing apartments, small group living arrangements, all of these could work and it would help very much to stabilize and support people in their lives and mitigate crisis that is such a problem for everybody involved, for people themselves and for their loved ones and for people around them. So we appreciate the partnerships. We appreciate the focus. I'm hoping that Bernie Sanders talking about bringing money and housing and resources into the state will help right now. There is an active strong coalition. We're very grateful for it, and we're very, very grateful for your time to be able to speak about this. Thank you very much.

[Kirsten Murphy]: Thank you. Thank you, love.

[Rep. Leonora Dodge]: We're available for questions too.

[Kirsten Murphy]: So I'll take that. Can send you how you'd like the direct questions, if

[Rep. Leonora Dodge]: it's Okay for people to speak from the floor. Yeah, it's fine for folks to speak from the floor. I'll open it up to questions.

[Kirsten Murphy]: Go ahead.

[Rep. Emilie Krasnow]: I actually had a comment. So I have a In South Burlington, in the district I represent, we have a wonderful shared community living space. And I just wanted to encourage my colleagues to find out where you live. If you do, I've gone several times and had posted an ice cream social so I could get to meet those constituents. And it's just such a fun time and talking to the residents and then also their care providers. And then I've also shared this I've heard the stories as well from families. What really strikes me is, as you mentioned, the aging population. Many constituents have said, We did not expect to be in this position, and the state is really failing our family, that some folks are in their late 70s and 80s now. So that's a story that I have heard in my constituency several times. And it's just really clear that a lack of housing for that group of folks that exists and needs to be created. So we need to support both what exists and continue to support new. But I just thank you so much for today. It was really amazing.

[Rep. Leonora Dodge]: Thank you, Sharon. Any other questions? Web center. Great.

[Rep. Joseph Parsons]: I want to go back to the beginning of your testimony, where you suggested that, it was somewhere around your when you said, how long would it take to set up 600 units? One of the answers that you gave was to use existing units. Can you say more about what you mean by that?

[Kirsten Murphy]: Sure, I think David Fry's testimony is a great example of that. If we were to get more people educated about Section eight, if we were to have state funded bridge ballot, not quite saying that exactly correctly, if we were able to use some of those existing programs, some of those units, like the one David is in, the voucher is tied to VNet, and as those become available, folks from our population could maybe rise up in the waiting list and take advantage of a unit like that. It's also, people have been told that if they live in a Section A department, there is no opportunity for them to A, share that unit with somebody else who has a Section eight voucher, if that is not correct. And B, that they could have a live in care provider. And in a two bedroom unit, that is a possibility. So, those are the things I'm thinking about. Okay, so, you know what I would

[Rep. Joseph Parsons]: Just to explore this a little bit more, I know that there are only two sixty eight units in the rental units in the entire state that are designated for people with disabilities. Are you talking about utilizing those? So not a

[Kirsten Murphy]: big activity disability has a physical disability. And I agree we have a terrible shortage. That's what I'm getting at. Think, well, I can always speak to the council here. Have supported in the past the idea that if there are physically accessible and fully ADI built out units, those should

[Rep. Joseph Parsons]: be prioritized for the people who need those accommodations. Okay, so I guess, number one, with Section eight vouchers, it's required that an accessible unit be prioritized for people with disabilities. Good. But what I'm asking, and I'm not trying to really, but I'm just trying get clarification, but are you saying if any of those units, those two sixty eight units were available for this program that they should be utilized or are you saying that any of the other section eight units that came available that were appropriate should be utilized? Or are you saying that other units that become available that aren't necessarily Section eight could be utilized? Just trying to understand what you mean by piece of we already have. I don't want

[Kirsten Murphy]: to give out wrong information and this is somewhat technical, so we have to phone a friend for a detailed answer to that, but I think that there are some suggestions on the table that there be a pool of state funded vouchers and that there be appropriate mechanisms in policy and to make the right decisions about who gets what. We would not want to be in the position of competing with other equally worthy populations, but we do want to be in the scene to be one of those worthy populations because our folks have not really known that they should get on waiting lists and they should consider options in the existing affordable housing. I think that's about a detail that they're able to get today. Thank you.

[Rep. Leonora Dodge]: Other questions?

[Rep. Marc Mihaly]: I have just a detailed question. You mentioned at the beginning of your testimony, 600 units. Polly, where are you?

[Rep. Joseph Parsons]: Right, so.

[Rep. Marc Mihaly]: Polly, you said 1,600 at one point.

[Kirsten Murphy]: I said six individual units.

[Rep. Marc Mihaly]: You said 600, okay.

[Kirsten Murphy]: Yeah. And 600, it's not as precise a number as I would It's based on an estimator. We are working with Gayle to get more fine grained data that is a recommendation in the protocol. But that will take some actual asking people like case management entities so that we can develop a really fine grained idea about, well, in Addison County, we know that there are 14 people living with family caregivers who are over the age of, hit the number 68 or whatever it is. So we can get there, but not by the time we publish this Well,

[Rep. Marc Mihaly]: you. And thank you by the way for what you've done today and for everybody for coming. Unfortunately, our committee has a testimony at 02:00 or just shortly afterwards, so

[Kirsten Murphy]: we will have to get there. Yeah.

[Rep. Leonora Dodge]: I don't know. Thank you all so much, Ben. But really appreciate highlighting the issues, really appreciate the report, in which I'm really excited. Like I said, our committee has been very familiar with this population, but it's exciting to see a coordinated effort with various stakeholders in ensuring more forward progress.

[Rep. Marc Mihaly]: Thank you everyone. We can go

[Rep. Leonora Dodge]: outside.