Vermont Legislature SmartTranscripts:

[Speaker 0]: Welcome back to House Human Services. Today's Thursday, January 8. We are continuing with our budget adjustment request from community partners. And next we have three witnesses with Jenna O'Farrell, Chad Simmons, and Michael Redmond. Welcome.

[Theresa Wood (Chair)]: Don't know who's going

[Speaker 0]: for you.

[Chad Simmons (Executive Director, Housing & Homelessness Alliance of Vermont)]: Jenna is going to go first.

[Speaker 0]: Okay, Jenna's going go first. You haven't been here, let's do a quick round of introductions, just so you know who is in the room. I am Rey Garofano. I represent S6 and S6 Junction.

[Jubilee McGill (Member)]: Hi, I'm Jubilee McGill.

[Theresa Wood (Chair)]: I represent Bridgeport, Middlebury, New Haven and Weybridge.

[Chad Simmons (Executive Director, Housing & Homelessness Alliance of Vermont)]: You're welcome.

[Jubilee McGill (Member)]: Hi, I'm Esme Cole of Hartford. It's nice to meet you.

[Michael Redmond (Senior Advisor, Housing & Homelessness Alliance of Vermont; former ED, Upper Valley Haven)]: Hi, I'm Zon Eastes and I serve Guilford and Vernon. Representing New York Good

[Doug Bishop (Member)]: morning. Doug Bishop, a representative from Coltford.

[Theresa Wood (Chair)]: For the study of Westford, West East Melbourne.

[Eric Maguire (Member)]: Hi. Good morning. Eric Maguire, representing Rutland City.

[Daniel Noyes (Clerk)]: Hi, Dan Noyes, representing Wilkett, Hyde Park, Johnson And Belvedere.

[Theresa Wood (Chair)]: Anne Donahue, Northfield and Berlin. Good morning, Theresa Wood from Waterbury and also representing Flame Fienden Spore in Huntington. We're just introducing ourselves.

[Bessie (Betsy) Weiss (Interim Executive Director, Vermont Legal Aid)]: Okay.

[Theresa Wood (Chair)]: Welcome, Jenna. I didn't see you up there. Welcome.

[Jenna O'Farrell (Executive Director, Northeast Kingdom Community Action; President, VT Community Action Partnership)]: Thanks. Good morning. I'm Jenna O'Farrell, Northeast Kingdom Community Action. Welcome back. Should I start? Are you ready for me?

[Theresa Wood (Chair)]: Yes. Yes. Go ahead, Jenna. Thank you.

[Jenna O'Farrell (Executive Director, Northeast Kingdom Community Action; President, VT Community Action Partnership)]: Great. Well, as I said, I am the executive director of Northeast Kingdom Community Action. I serve, at NECA. We serve Caledonia, Orleans, and Essex County. I also serve as a president of Vermont Community Action Partnership, which consists of SEVCA, Brock, CVOEO, and Capstone. Together, we cover every county in Vermont and provide support, services, and programs to low income and vulnerable Vermonters. Thank you for the opportunity today to describe the financial assistance program, its role as a homelessness prevention strategy, and consequences if the Budget Adjustment Act doesn't allocate funding to the amount of 1,322,141. Through the housing opportunity program, financial assistance provides short term or one time financial support to individuals and families who are experiencing homelessness or at imminent risk of becoming homeless. These funds are designed to quickly stabilize households by safely diverting them from homelessness or supporting rapid exits from housing instability. Eligible uses include short term rental assistance up to three months, last month's rent, security deposits, utility deposits, rental arrears up to three months, recovery or nontraditional housing program fees, and transportation costs to enable individuals to live with friends or family, including relocation to other regions or other states. Financial assistance is a critical homelessness prevention tool. Historically, this funding has allowed us to support households with a with a three full months of rental subsidy covering combinations, as I said, of first, last security deposits or rental arrears. Due to the reduced funding that we have right now, we're limited to providing 1,500 per household. This reduction has significantly limited our ability to help families retain or secure housing. In many cases, this fiscal year, starting, July 1, assistance has only covered one month of rent at market rate unit, which is often insufficient to prevent eviction or to prevent homelessness. My computer just did something. I'm sorry.

[Theresa Wood (Chair)]: Yes. Okay.

[Daniel Noyes (Clerk)]: Reduced capacity to provide meaningful financial assistance directly correlates with an increase in individuals and families remaining homeless or becoming homeless, placing additional strain on

[Jenna O'Farrell (Executive Director, Northeast Kingdom Community Action; President, VT Community Action Partnership)]: the general assistance system. This impact is reflected in continued increases in our coordinated entry programs. We also have experienced increased tension and resistance among participants and landlords. Without the ability to bring households current on rental arrears, landlords are increasingly unwilling to work with our participants and instead rent to others. The die this dynamic further exacerbates an already competitive and scarce housing market. Housing providers must be fully restored this year to effectively support Vermonters who are the most vulnerable to eviction. These funds have preserved housing, created pathways to stability, kept families together during periods of extreme stress, and offered individuals and families the opportunity for a fresh start. Continued investment in financial assistance is essential to preventing homelessness and reducing system wide strain.

[Theresa Wood (Chair)]: Thank you, Gina. Have a question, and we'll open up for questions, then we'll come to chat. Okay? So you said 1,300,000.0 then you referenced a reduction. So what was your previous funding in this area and what was it reduced to? You know, what you have right now.

[Jenna O'Farrell (Executive Director, Northeast Kingdom Community Action; President, VT Community Action Partnership)]: Oh, okay. So right in I have the number. I don't have that right in front of me. So we were and I can speak specifically for four of the five cap agencies. We are like, I can speak specifically for NECA. Like, for example, we received, 282 for 85 in fiscal year twenty five. And then last year, it was reduced to 87,000. Then they we got an additional award of 35,000. So our request is for a 160 at NECA that restores to the FY '25 rate.

[Theresa Wood (Chair)]: And so, do you know, and I don't know if maybe Chad knows this, but do you know if that is similar for the other agencies? Are you just looking at restoration to the FY '25 rate?

[Michael Redmond (Senior Advisor, Housing & Homelessness Alliance of Vermont; former ED, Upper Valley Haven)]: The non cap agencies, which are the service funded through COP, At the last in the FY '25 the grant was $1,062,000 this year it's $609,000 so reduction of $400,000 40%. Thank you.

[Daniel Noyes (Clerk)]: I can answer your actual question if you want. To ensure we're doing the record, what we did is pull all the groups that do financial assistance and they're only asking for the difference between FY '25 and FY '26. And there was, just so you know, I'm sure Director Sundarner will say this, but they did get a little bit more in sort of after the initial grant, but there's still a gap from FY '25.

[Theresa Wood (Chair)]: And the 1,300,000.0 is the gap after the little bit of extra that people got. Okay. And so were you given explanation about that? Or was it changing in priorities? Because our total amount in HOP actually went up. And so Housing Opportunity Program, our total amount in that area went up. And so we're curious why you received a reduction.

[Jenna O'Farrell (Executive Director, Northeast Kingdom Community Action; President, VT Community Action Partnership)]: I think it was a reinvestment in other projects.

[Theresa Wood (Chair)]: Other know projects. Have

[Jenna O'Farrell (Executive Director, Northeast Kingdom Community Action; President, VT Community Action Partnership)]: a chat or Michael, if you have other response.

[Theresa Wood (Chair)]: Okay. We can ask the department for more clarification about that. Okay. And I'll just

[Chad Simmons (Executive Director, Housing & Homelessness Alliance of Vermont)]: add Chad Simmons, Vermont Housing and Homelessness Alliance of Vermont. I think it's that flexibility part that is really key that provides really focused investments for people in specific situations. So I think that is really the key component of this particular program. Even if HOP did go up, it's this particular program that allows our collaborative agencies to be able to provide those flexible responses.

[Theresa Wood (Chair)]: The reason that I'm asking is because during the budget presentation when we were talking about increase being requested for HOP, because the department did request an increase in HOP, we were told that it was essentially for shelter expansion. And we weren't given any indication that the existing services would be reduced as a result of that. And so that's why I'm just asking for that clarification. Thank you. Other questions for Jenna. Yes, go ahead, Representative Maguire.

[Eric Maguire (Member)]: No, thank you. Is the 1,500 maximum governed by the organization or by OEO? Is it OEO that's saying you can only give 1,500? Or is that where you looked at, this is what we got for funding and this is okay.

[Brenda Siegel (Executive Director, End Homelessness Vermont)]: No.

[Eric Maguire (Member)]: And with the funding that you receive for this, when do you expect to run out of it? What you have now, obviously, you're requesting more, but where are you at with the money that you currently have?

[Jenna O'Farrell (Executive Director, Northeast Kingdom Community Action; President, VT Community Action Partnership)]: So currently in because for for the Northeast Kingdom, it's two regions. So our Caledonia Southern Essex region, we've spent 75% of our funds as of December 31. And then

[Eric Maguire (Member)]: You wouldn't happen to have any information in regards to the other agencies and where they may be

[Brenda Siegel (Executive Director, End Homelessness Vermont)]: at?

[Jenna O'Farrell (Executive Director, Northeast Kingdom Community Action; President, VT Community Action Partnership)]: But we could we could get this information to you.

[Eric Maguire (Member)]: Thank you.

[Jenna O'Farrell (Executive Director, Northeast Kingdom Community Action; President, VT Community Action Partnership)]: And then, Orleans, Northern Essex, we've spent 60%. It's a little a little less than the budgeted amount.

[Theresa Wood (Chair)]: So just for people's information, the so we are planning to wrap up our recommendations to house appropriations by Friday. And I learned yesterday that the Appropriations Committee is going to have a public hearing on budget adjustment. And so you will also be able to have a bit of a say there as well. So I don't know if you're able to get us the additional information by Friday morning or not. That's tomorrow. But it's helpful if you can. But you've given us a sense between the three of you that this essentially has been a reduction from past practice around this service. I guess I'm also interested in understanding if this has limited people's ability to access some of the We've seen reductions in HUD vouchers, for instance. Has this limited people's ability to use their HUD voucher? Or are you seeing ripple effects, I guess, not only just with, people who might be able to, afford to eventually pay on their own, you know, versus those in subsidized housing?

[Jenna O'Farrell (Executive Director, Northeast Kingdom Community Action; President, VT Community Action Partnership)]: Right. I mean, I think probably the stories are very specific to individuals, but I think across the like, generally, when we're using this kind of flexible funds to help, blend and breed different vouchers or funding streams or, eligible benefits for people, everything makes a difference. And when and the goal is sustainability. Right? So we don't wanna set up people or get people into situations where they're not gonna be able to maintain over a period of time. So it is complicated. And I think when we pull one piece away and there isn't anything to build it back in, it's it's really complicated.

[Theresa Wood (Chair)]: Mhmm.

[Speaker 0]: Representative Garofano. Thank you for the information. You may have said this, and I'm sorry if I missed it. But is this financial assistance program only run out of the caps, or do other pregnant organizations also So how many organizations total?

[Michael Redmond (Senior Advisor, Housing & Homelessness Alliance of Vermont; former ED, Upper Valley Haven)]: In addition to the CAPS, there were nine organizations that also received grants for elder outreach to target homeless or preventing homelessness received grants

[Doug Bishop (Member)]: this year.

[Chad Simmons (Executive Director, Housing & Homelessness Alliance of Vermont)]: Right, thank you. From across the

[Eric Maguire (Member)]: state,

[Michael Redmond (Senior Advisor, Housing & Homelessness Alliance of Vermont; former ED, Upper Valley Haven)]: one was a statewide, the Alumni Against Domestic and Central Latin America.

[Theresa Wood (Chair)]: And I'm just wanting to make sure that I understood, Michael, the number that you gave us previously, the 1,062,000 and the 609, is that all of those providers? That's all of those providers. Oh, okay. Yeah. You. Any other questions for Jenna? Thank you so much, Jenna. Nice to see you. Whoops.

[Chad Simmons (Executive Director, Housing & Homelessness Alliance of Vermont)]: Trying to time it just right.

[Jenna O'Farrell (Executive Director, Northeast Kingdom Community Action; President, VT Community Action Partnership)]: That's fine. I'll just stand.

[Theresa Wood (Chair)]: You disappeared from our screen as Chad was bringing up his presentation. It's good. Okay, Chad. Well, morning. And welcome. Welcome to your relatively new job.

[Chad Simmons (Executive Director, Housing & Homelessness Alliance of Vermont)]: It is relatively Let me just start my screen and introduce myself here.

[Brenda Siegel (Executive Director, End Homelessness Vermont)]: There

[Chad Simmons (Executive Director, Housing & Homelessness Alliance of Vermont)]: we go. Okay, good morning. My name is Chad Simmons. I am the new Executive Director of the Housing and Homelessness Alliance of Vermont. I am four days in. I mainly wanted to just be here, introduce myself to the committee, and then just show our support for this request of $1,300,000 for the HOT flexible funding program. I won't go over these slides. I'm going to cede my time primarily to Michael to go and give a few examples of how these dollars are being used to ensure folks immediately go into housing and prevent homelessness from happening. Very, very quickly though, folks who do not know or familiar with HHAV, essentially we are here to build a Vermont where the fundamental right of housing is joined by all. And we serve a couple of different hats. We're a member driven and statewide organization. We have members who are service older adults and represent mental health, anti poverty, housing, homelessness prevention, support and finance. We formed in 2023 after the merger of the Vermont Housing and Affordable Housing Coalition and the Vermont Coalition End Homelessness. And our primary two areas of focus are we are the designated organization for the HUD Continuum of Care, and so that encompasses a number of homelessness and response and supports throughout the state, including applying for the HUD COC grant, which brings in $6,500,000 to the state. And the other hat is the advocacy and ensuring that we have state policy that supports folks in homelessness and prevents that from happening, as well as the full continuum of housing. So with that, I will turn it over to Michael, who will go a little bit more detail to our collective request for this $1,300,000 But I just want to highlight the importance, as we were saying earlier, of these specific programs that allow flexibility, allow our community organizations to provide flexibility in meeting people's needs to ensure that they have shelter and housing. I will step aside and let Michael do his thing. Thank you. Nice to meet you. Are

[Michael Redmond (Senior Advisor, Housing & Homelessness Alliance of Vermont; former ED, Upper Valley Haven)]: you going write the slides?

[Eric Maguire (Member)]: I will. Okay, great.

[Michael Redmond (Senior Advisor, Housing & Homelessness Alliance of Vermont; former ED, Upper Valley Haven)]: Hi again, Michael Redmond. Until November, I was the executive director of the Upper Valley Haven located in White River Junction. Hi, Esme. Hi. And then I had the shortest retirement ever. Friday, I did that job on Friday. On Monday, I started to be the interim executive director of knowing that there was a search underway and we're fortunate to find Chad and then now we're in a little bit of transition and so I'm calling myself senior adviser now which means you can pay attention to me or not, you know, as it is for the next couple of weeks but I draw a lot of experience from my time at The Haven as well of knowing the effectiveness of the program and there's a couple and make the big impact. And I'll talk for share a few stories which I think could be helpful in that. It's effective of helping people remain housed or helping them achieve housing when they've been homelessness. It's narrow in its scope of what it can be used for. You've heard from Jenna and the amounts that are available and I'll give you a sense of how that's put together. In addition to the funds that are here, I know at The Haven, we would sometimes combine with some other funds that would be available to us from private fundraising. And I know some of the other organizations will do that as well. It's very efficient in the total amount of dollars that do get spent. But having that 40% or less funding means choices are being made of either reducing the amount of any individual grant or just having fewer people that can be helped having to say no more often. There's a very rigorous process. At least there is a day then of of not just putting money out there and hoping for the best. It's very specific. It goes to the vendor, you know, and not to the individual. So, it's under well, good control and we and we look at it as always, is this going to make a difference or is this person going be back here in a month or you know, same problem. We wouldn't fund that brand because we wanted to make the impact where it's securing homelessness or helping someone securing someone to not be homeless either by finding a new home or helping someone remain where they are. So I just had a few highlights from organizations to give you a sense of that. And so Chad, if you go on. The first one, Upper Belly Haven, an organization I'm familiar with, you can see that in FY twenty five, they served a total of 110 households. So far this year, it's 51 and the money is almost being used up because of that. But the last year, there were $190,000 and funded 110 people. So less than you know, you know, 2,000 per per case. Some examples of work that occurred. A client was able to move from the adult shelter at The Haven into a three bedroom apartment where she successfully reunited with her two teenage children who now spend time between their parents' two homes. The client's reunification was dependent on safe, affordable housing appropriate for a family of three. And so being able to maintain employment, remains in good standing with their housing provider. And others, after staying in the ESD funded hotels, so people coming out of the motel program, and then but also then spending time outdoors in a tent, a client or part secured a subsidized apartment, resulted in stabilization, easier access to medical care as the head of household lives with terminal cancer diagnosis. How funding allowed this couple to address moving costs, including security deposit and first month's rent. Third case, after years on a waiting list, a client finally qualified for accessible unit and development in White River Junction designed for people classified as elderly and disabled. And we're seeing that in homeless populations, older and with disabilities. The individual had stayed in hotels and with friends on and off for years. With this HOP assistance, the client was able to move into a safe ground floor subsidized unit housed and focused on future goals and aspirations. Next, after sleeping outside in a tarp for several weeks, 70 year old client moved into shelter with a housing choice voucher in hand with Vermont Housing Improvement Program, B. H. So we tapped in all the programs that unit became available, staff supported this client applying for affordable, accessible housing opportunity funds will utilize to assist with movement expenses. Lastly, after some setbacks related to persistent mental health concerns, a tenant enrolled in a way home program, which comes out of B. S. A. Got behind in rent with supportive service coordinator and a housing provider. Optics were explored to restore his status as a tenant in good standing, provide housing stability. HopFunds allowed him to get his back rent paid, avoid eviction, and move forward in seeking supports for his ongoing wellness. That's just one organization that we can share in other stores as well. Move on to the next slide. So, Network received $165,000 in it. That's FY 25 for 95 people were helped and so less than you know, by again, 1,500. The 52 are moving into housing from homelessness and 43 were at risk of homelessness. 57 were housed in subsidized units. Majority reduced security deposits, first month's rent. And of course, this is a extreme safety of helping people that have been subject to violence find safe housing that where they can remain safe. Onto the Springfield. Again, spent $139,000 for 125 grants, again, so just over $1,000 Number of households that exited literal homelessness as a result were thirty two, and ninety three avoided becoming homelessness as a result of that. Lastly, Rutland, again showing across the state, the homeless prevention center, helped rehouse 108 homeless individuals. Vast majority have been sheltering in the GA motel program. So how to help people move out of the motels. The securities grants help that by providing that key level of assistance. During the same time, funds were to prevent homelessness with additional 112 people and people of all kinds of households. So that gives you a taste of the kinds of folks that are being helped. A good process, very efficient and the dollars that are used will be used wisely if additional dollars are granted through the VA. So thanks for this opportunity.

[Chad Simmons (Executive Director, Housing & Homelessness Alliance of Vermont)]: Thank you, Michael. And Sherwood, if I could just point out a couple of things that Jenna and Michael have discussed there was how these programs are into really this is a little future forward looking at FY '27 priorities but looking at how these programs are connected to other investments the state is making along the continuum of policy. I think it's really important that we talk about how the cap agencies, how homelessness shelters are using these programs in conjunction with other state priorities. One of

[Theresa Wood (Chair)]: the questions that I have, because in testimony of Joint Fiscal Committee, the state housing authority is saying that they don't really have any doctors to be giving out right now. So I guess I'm trying to link the connection between people who, if been living in the GA motel rooms, they generally don't have a voucher. But there may be some out there who have one who just hadn't been able to find an apartment yet. I'm trying to figure out really if we have the I feel like there's going to be, if there isn't already a disconnect between being able to invest in these resources and people not really being able to have the vouchers to sustain themselves in apartments.

[Michael Redmond (Senior Advisor, Housing & Homelessness Alliance of Vermont; former ED, Upper Valley Haven)]: It will narrow the kinds of choices that get made of who can get help for sure. Although I do believe that there is a BAA request for need to have available housing. We find that in different ways through the support of the state programs that Chad mentioned and then behind all of these are service providers, the case workers who do that work but you're right. Think the red supports are also valuable. And so we cling to all of those.

[Theresa Wood (Chair)]: I'm wondering if given the uncertainty about what's going to happen in HUD and dollar amounts in HUD, whether whether we would see perhaps a year from now a shift towards a higher percentage of preventing homelessness as opposed to removing from homelessness.

[Michael Redmond (Senior Advisor, Housing & Homelessness Alliance of Vermont; former ED, Upper Valley Haven)]: Yeah, having been following of course closely the NOFO that HUD issued, which is now in suspension because of the judge's ruling, but they resubmitted their language. This is what they intend to do. So we expect that if that does go through, there'll be a shift from permanent supported housing to more temporary. The two year programs that we know have had limited, less effective than the permanent supported housing. There'll be other shifts to community outreach and service providers, but it's really gonna be a challenge. First, here we are now and this year, we're trying to keep people where they are. And lives do change, so you give people a chance still some tricks out

[Jubilee McGill (Member)]: there. Yeah,

[Theresa Wood (Chair)]: have to call on all different elements out there. Questions for Michael or Chad or Jenna. Yeah, go ahead.

[Speaker 0]: Quick question again operationally. Are these grants all administered through the state individually to all the different organizations or are they included in other grant?

[Michael Redmond (Senior Advisor, Housing & Homelessness Alliance of Vermont; former ED, Upper Valley Haven)]: They're included in the so hop as multiple grants that not all hop funded programs have these grants only the cap agencies plus these nine other organizations that I mentioned. So, that's they did so Lily could tell you how they decide. So that Rutland for example, it's a very large brand. There's fewer shelter beds there compared to some other places. So there's, I think I'm guessing, big support of trying to help people remain housed through that. And then they kind of spread around the state into other organizations.

[Theresa Wood (Chair)]: Any questions for those witnesses? You very much. Really we really appreciate it. Okay. Just right back on time. Okay. Next, we're going to be joined by Brenda Segal, who is the Executive Director of End Homelessness Vermont, to hear about the request for the services that they provide. Welcome, Brenda. Welcome back. I don't think you need introductions. You were here last year. And we can find Brenda's request on the website as well.

[Brenda Siegel (Executive Director, End Homelessness Vermont)]: Added a little fact to my experience. Okay, I did want to I'm Brenda, for the record, I'm Brenda Steady, the executive director of Bend Homelessness Vermont. And I wanted to just, first of all, say that I support the HHS and PAC funding requests. And just wanted to also name that the Away Home Voucher, VRS Voucher, Family Reunification Vouchers still exist. And we use them all the time, and so our clients do. So those are still ways that people can get vouchers and get housed. Those aren't specific HUD vouchers? They're all different. The Family Unification Voucher is when you have family services involvement, the Away Home Voucher. Different programs have funding to do that and work with private landlords mostly to make that one work. And it's families usually. But you have to have been homeless for three years consistently. It's either three years or twelve months. It's different depending on the part of the state. And then the family, the VRS voucher happens to reach up. And they are one year specific. So the programs that you just talked about, are

[Theresa Wood (Chair)]: they state funded? Are they fed?

[Brenda Siegel (Executive Director, End Homelessness Vermont)]: So some are housing authority funded. So are from the state housing authority. And VRS voucher is state funded. Yeah. Thank you. But still managed through the housing authority when we work with clients. So it's a little bit complicated.

[Theresa Wood (Chair)]: I'm learning something every year. Something new every time.

[Brenda Siegel (Executive Director, End Homelessness Vermont)]: End Homelessness Vermont is requesting 100,000 in the Budget Adjustment Act for disability focused case management, service navigation, technical assistance and concrete supports. I want to note that we will be making a request in FY '27 budget, but we need this funding now to cover a critical gap that threatens our ability to serve the Vermont's highest needs households. And many of you know, but briefly, End Homelessness Vermont is a lived experience led organization providing trauma informed housing first based services to people experiencing homelessness and housing insecurity at the intersection of living with a disability or complex need. We work primarily with people living with disabilities, although we do answer every call or email and support people in multiple ways throughout the year through our hotline. Our clients live with significant disabilities. I said that twice, apparently. But because of this, they have unique needs when being exited to outside in communicating with economic services, in housing case management and more. We are the only organization that provides this specialized service as our main focus. And it has proven to be a very successful model to support people from the point of emergency all the way through their permanent housing. In both the gap exists because in both April and July of this year, a large number of medically vulnerable and complex need Vermonters with disabilities were either exited from GA emergency housing or needed additional support, essentially draining our funds. These funds are necessary to stabilize and sustain this existing critical part of homelessness service infrastructure. When clients are exited from shelter, their needs can range when our clients are exited from shelter, their needs can range from generators to run medical equipment, to cots for those who can't get to the ground, to rapid sheltering that prevents catastrophic outcomes in the most extreme cases. All of our clients need service coordination and navigation, not just until they are permanently housed, but throughout their housing to maintain support for their medical needs or their disability. We do not turn people away. We work with clients for whom traditional case management has not been successful, and perhaps they have not been able to work with a traditional program. When we have the resources to provide the specialized disability support, the outcomes are transformative. When we don't, the consequences can be catastrophic and more costly than addressing the crisis upfront. For example, people ending up in the emergency room, which is very expensive, and our clients losing their lives, as you all heard from us before. But I want to tell you today about what success looks like. You often hear from me the catastrophic outcomes, of which there are many. But we've had some really positive outcomes this year. For example, I want to talk about our client Ernest in Rutland. Ernest has muscular dystrophy. He seemingly had no options. We were told over and over again by multiple providers that he was refusing services. It turns out the problem was much more complex. He could not get to the door of his hotel room without help. So what looked like refusing to a provider or agency trying to help him was actually a need for specialized support for his disability. And he had got tired of saying it because he felt like he wasn't listened to. And so he just started saying, I'm asleep right now, or I can't come to the door. We have worked with him since 2023. In December, he finally made it into permanent housing. We continue to work with him on medical needs, helping him navigate living in permanent housing and making sure he is successful. We also have a client, Darren, whose story you've heard some of. But this year, since I last talked to you, he has MS. He has been outside before and almost didn't make it. We were able to secure him by moving up in the voucher service and Rutland Housing Authority, a traditional unit, but that was accessible and made In order to do that, we had to make sure that the home care providers were actually coming and showing up. We had to work closely with a large team of providers, and we have to continue to work with him on a daily basis to make sure he can be successful there. The client that had been there before him had not been successful in that apartment because some of those pieces fell apart. So there is really critical. But these are two people that I've had people say to me before, what are they supposed to do, live in a hotel until they die? And that was never our goal. All of these folks can make it home. In the last fourteen months, we were able to support 80 people with complex needs to become permanently housed with only two returning to homelessness. That is a 97.5% housing retention rate for the last fourteen months. And of the two that returned to homelessness, one has been housed again. What we did in 2025, all around in our organization, is we answered more than 3,000 hotline calls and responded to hundreds of referrals. We front were of the Human Services Board more than two fifty times while representing people with disabilities and fair hearings as non attorney advocates. We supported more than two fifty people on with ongoing support and assisting them with emergency and 500 people with ongoing and other capacities and work with providers across the state to understand our systems. What this funding would do for us is this $100,000 represents a fraction of our total need. These funds will provide disability focused case management for medically complex clients and people with disabilities, service navigation and coordination from crisis through housing stability, technical assistance and concrete supports, the tangible resources that prevent catastrophic outcomes, and when there is enough, more of our clients will have wonderful outcomes like earnests and dares. Without this funding, Vermonters living with disabilities and complex needs who are experiencing homelessness will have even less of the support that they need. We have been operating on a shoestring budget for a long time, and yet we are successful in getting clients housed without a return to homelessness. Imagine how much we could do if we were funded at similar levels or even a fraction of the levels that most of our partners are. Again, End Homelessness Vermont is requesting $100,000 in the budget adjustment for disability focused case management, service navigation, technical assistance and concrete supports. I ask the committee to support this request. Thank you for the opportunity to testify today, and I'm happy to take any questions.

[Theresa Wood (Chair)]: Thank you. Thank you. Could you describe a little bit what concrete supports? That term might be new for some people.

[Brenda Siegel (Executive Director, End Homelessness Vermont)]: It's a broad term, and it covers whatever sort of one time thing that you can do to help someone maintain success. But for our clients, sometimes that looks like a generator outside or a cot, which is really hard. Sometimes it looks like placement at an emergency shelter for a few nights after or for a week after surgery. Sometimes it looks like supporting them with getting tools while they're in their housing. So it is a variety of things. And in our organization, it is very disability focused. It's not, yeah. It sounds similar to what we were just hearing from the other providers in terms of the flexibility of the funds. Right. Yeah, there is a, exactly. And I wanted to add that all 80 of the people that we've gotten housed have used top funds. And it's really important. What different organizations use them for is definitely slightly different across the state, it seems like. And we've definitely applied for a lot of them. But in terms of the kinds of support that we offer, like generators, things like that, those things are not funded anywhere unless a particular shelter happens to have that in their funding model, which sometimes is true in certain districts. Are you hooked up to other databases so you know that you honestly know that people aren't double dipping? Are you like with other nonprofits, other organizations as your database? So you can go in and say, Oh, sorry, you're already receiving benefits from another agency. So our clients require a team approach. So we don't work. We never work alone. We work like, for example, with our client in Rutland that I just talked about, we were working with the AAA, ourselves, Brock, and as well as the medical providers. And we all got together and we worked out which of us would do which part of their support. You. Yeah. Questions? Go ahead, Representative Bishop.

[Doug Bishop (Member)]: Well, we just heard from our last set of witnesses that there was less financial assistance funding available through this year. I'm wondering, is that something that your organization has applied for and received in the past?

[Brenda Siegel (Executive Director, End Homelessness Vermont)]: We have applied for HOT funds in the past, we have not we have applied for HOT funds through other organizations in the past. We have not received them. What other What other organizations do you get funds from? These size Our funds come from small grants and individual donors. But grants, where do they come from? We have multiple grants from multiple different entities. I don't have a list of them right now. Can put it Sure. There's no problem. Might be lower. But I would say that that's a small list. Most of our funding is individual donors. Individual. Yeah.

[Theresa Wood (Chair)]: When you say small grants, do you mean from philanthropic organizations or a local, I don't know, local rotary guy? Know I wrote the

[Speaker 0]: house. Not today.

[Brenda Siegel (Executive Director, End Homelessness Vermont)]: It's not today. No, And I wanted to add Email. Now I forget what I wanted to add to your

[Eric Maguire (Member)]: application for financial assistance.

[Brenda Siegel (Executive Director, End Homelessness Vermont)]: Oh, I wanted to say that we do have clients who live with disabilities who, for example, have been denied in an initial HOP fund application. And the problem was really that they were not able to produce what they needed to produce in order to prove that they qualified. And so we've gone back and worked with that client to get all of the right supports in place and then worked in partnership with the provider. We did this just recently with SEVCA with the provider to make sure that they got that support and were able, and then they did qualify. That person would have lost their housing otherwise, but has now remained housed and is all caught up on his rent and has a plan going forward. We also do budgets with our clients who are struggling to maintain their housing. It

[Theresa Wood (Chair)]: sounds like the intensive case management support that you provide, sometimes for people with disabilities that other people might not see right away, you're able to identify and to assist them and to get through the process of connecting. And I was just trying to think about that when we were listening to the AAA earlier and trying to think about how you would do that if you had between fifty and seventy people on your caseload.

[Brenda Siegel (Executive Director, End Homelessness Vermont)]: We experience this. But I will say that what we do is our whole team uses a team approach. So our clients do interact with all of us to some extent, me less than the other three. And we actually have four staff for half the year and three for the other half the rest. Each of our staff, one of them does all the service coordination and working with medical providers. One of them does all of the renewal supports or initial intakes. And then the other one does intake and hotline. Because of that, every day at the end of the day, we talk about the list of clients that we have and figure out what other providers we need to make sure are engaged so that we are able to manage the caseload and so that people are so that things that can be done by someone else aren't done by us.

[Theresa Wood (Chair)]: Are there questions?

[Jubilee McGill (Member)]: Okay, great. Thank you very much, Brenda. Thank you.

[Brenda Siegel (Executive Director, End Homelessness Vermont)]: Appreciate it. Okay, we're going

[Theresa Wood (Chair)]: be hearing from recovery partners. Good morning. Good morning, good morning. Welcome.

[Susie Walker (Executive Director, Recovery Partners of Vermont)]: Nice to be here. Thank you for hearing my testimony. My name is Susie Walker, and I'm the executive director for the Recovery Partners of Vermont, an organization that represents 14 peer recovery organizations across the state. I'm advocating for the needs of six of our recovery centers, asking the legislature to use the budget adjustment process to increase the one time funding for recovery centers in fiscal year twenty twenty six by $420,000 to help these six recovery centers with budget constraints. All of our centers are facing increasing demands due to the systemic constraints caused by lost funding, shuttered local service providers, the federal changes that are impacting so many aspects of our work, and the increasingly complex barriers our program participants face as they lose SNAP, Medicaid, and other essential services. To complicate matters, recovery organizations have seen a significant increase in demand for our services. We expect this trend to continue as federal actions make it harder for individuals struggling with substance use to access resources and services. Last year, our PB requested $1,600,000 on behalf of our 11 recovery center members. And we thank the legislature for funding $800,000 in one time funding from the prevention fund to partially meet that request. Six recovery organizations across Vermont have identified a need for the additional $420,000 in one time funding in the FY '26 Budget Adjustment Act to maintain their services and avoid significant budget deficits. The six centers I'll discuss today are hit particularly hard with unexpected distribution issues. These centers are: The Turning Point Center of Springfield, The Journey to Recovery Center in Newport, the Turning Point Center of Chittenden County, the Turning Point Center of Addison County, the Turning Point of Bennington, and the Turning Point of Windham County. RPV's FY twenty six budget request for recovery centers was built from individual members, organizational and community needs with rate plots ranging among members, partly due to the differences in how previous funding requests and sources have impacted the different set. As I've mentioned, we're sincerely grateful to this committee for finding $800,000 in one time funding dollars to support the recovery centers in the FY '26 budget. Our PB submitted recommendations for distributing the $800,000 but the funds were awarded at a flat rate of 50,000 across all recovery organizations, with 200,000 set aside to be allocated per Medicaid population maps. While the Medicaid maps helped bolster a few recovery organizations, the district's funds left six recovery organizations in need of additional funding to preserve current services and avoid significant deficits. We're asking that the legislature appropriate $420,000 in one time funding in the FY '26 Budget Adjustment Act, which is half the remaining requests, if you will, in quotes for FY 2026. This appropriation would help preserve current services and avoid significant budget deficits at a time when the recovery system is already strained and our friends and neighbors are facing daunting hardships, needing our services more than ever.

[Brenda Siegel (Executive Director, End Homelessness Vermont)]: Thank you.

[Theresa Wood (Chair)]: Thank you very much. Appreciate that. Questions? She was first. Okay, I can see that. Yes, Representative Garofano, Steady, and then Maguire.

[Brenda Siegel (Executive Director, End Homelessness Vermont)]: Thank you so

[Speaker 0]: much for your testimony. I'm just curious, since you were asking for what if I'm funding, what is the demand for sustainability of the needs aren't going to go away, obviously. No, they're not

[Susie Walker (Executive Director, Recovery Partners of Vermont)]: going to go away. And we're working with our partners and with the state to find more permanent solutions. So we realize that this is a stop gap, but it's keeping lifesaving work going. And until we can find something more permanent, we're here today to ask for help.

[Brenda Steady (Member)]: Mine's more for care with. Is this something that they could apply for the opiate settlement monies?

[Theresa Wood (Chair)]: That's where the $800,000 came from that the witness referenced. On one time, no. Not during BAA. Thanks. I'm sure they probably have applied. We haven't gotten the report yet from the committee. I'm sure they've applied for FY27. Representative Maguire?

[Eric Maguire (Member)]: Yeah, I think there's more thing. How many of the centers have still not had their base funding grants executed that was supposed to be executed on October 1? How many centers are still waiting for their grants to be executed?

[Susie Walker (Executive Director, Recovery Partners of Vermont)]: Most of them. They've received the narrative so they can see what any new requirements or updated requirements are, but they're still waiting for the actual executed grant. And so the centers are actually Great question, thank you. Unable, well, they can submit their invoices for work since October, but the invoices can't be paid until the grants are executed.

[Eric Maguire (Member)]: Okay, that's very, very concerning because those grants were supposed to be executed on October 1. And the reason I'm bringing this up because I'm also hearing from that, we are now into January and here we are, you folks are looking for reimbursements for services and they can't be reimbursed because the grants haven't been executed. Where is the disconnect? And I'm not getting frustrated with centers, I'm getting frustrated with this shouldn't occur. There are grants from the opioid settlement funds that still haven't been executed from last year. And now we're seeing that centers and recovery partners aren't able to access fundings because grants aren't executed. I know, Lylee, you threw your hand off. So I'm gonna ask you, has your grant been executed yet?

[Lila Bennett (Executive Director, Journey to Recovery Community Center, Newport)]: No. It has not.

[Eric Maguire (Member)]: Thank you. Danielle?

[Danielle Wallace (Director, Turning Point Center of Addison County)]: So my base grant, and I believe most centers' base grants who were executed on July 1. What you're talking about is the ED grant. None of ours have been executed. The additional 800,000 was supposed to come in an amendment. That also has not been executed, I don't think, for any centers. So our base funding did get executed a little bit after July 1, but the ED grant, which is on the federal cycle has not been executed, I

[Brenda Siegel (Executive Director, End Homelessness Vermont)]: don't believe for anybody.

[Michael Redmond (Senior Advisor, Housing & Homelessness Alliance of Vermont; former ED, Upper Valley Haven)]: Okay.

[Theresa Wood (Chair)]: I have a clarifying question. I'm not understanding the differences between the two for me, but go ahead. That would be helpful, but also are these

[Speaker 0]: coming out of the health department? Is that who manages these grants?

[Daniel Noyes (Clerk)]: Yes.

[Lila Bennett (Executive Director, Journey to Recovery Community Center, Newport)]: Yes. Yes,

[Theresa Wood (Chair)]: it is. Thank you.

[Eric Maguire (Member)]: But it's CSU that has the oversight in regards to it, correct?

[Speaker 0]: Who's writing the grants? DSU. Oh, DSU is okay.

[Theresa Wood (Chair)]: Oh, it's a health department. It's a health department.

[Brenda Siegel (Executive Director, End Homelessness Vermont)]: May I clarify for you?

[Theresa Wood (Chair)]: Yes, thank you.

[Susie Walker (Executive Director, Recovery Partners of Vermont)]: The base grants are what the centers use for their operations. And that runs on the July to June cycle. The ED grants is the emergency department coaching programs, and that runs on the federal fiscal year cycle.

[Lila Bennett (Executive Director, Journey to Recovery Community Center, Newport)]: And it's not just the ED. We do a parents and recovery. Some of the centers have a parents and recovery coaching program through that grant. And yes, that runs on a different fiscal cycle. Our operational base grant was executed in November for July 1 start. And then we have not received the SOAR grant, the other grant yet, which you know, that doesn't it this has been a pretty regular occurrence, but it is does speak to, you know, a little bit of why we're asking for this as well, which I can get to in my testimony too.

[Susie Walker (Executive Director, Recovery Partners of Vermont)]: All right. I can turn it over to my colleagues.

[Bessie (Betsy) Weiss (Interim Executive Director, Vermont Legal Aid)]: Thank you. Just a minute.

[Theresa Wood (Chair)]: Let me just double check to see if anybody else has any other questions for you. Thank you, Susie. Appreciate it.

[Eric Maguire (Member)]: Just quickly, if we do get a chance during the time of testimony from the state, the SC and so forth, I think that's an important topic to come out of that.

[Theresa Wood (Chair)]: They will definitely be here during budget testimony. Okay, who's going to go first, Danielle or Lila? Danielle or Lila, it doesn't matter to me.

[Brenda Siegel (Executive Director, End Homelessness Vermont)]: Go ahead.

[Theresa Wood (Chair)]: Okay, Danielle.

[Danielle Wallace (Director, Turning Point Center of Addison County)]: So thank you for the opportunity to testify today. And thank you all for the amazing work that you do for Vermont. And we do really appreciate the stress that this job has and are so grateful to have such great champions in our corner. So as I said, my name is Danielle Wallace. I'm the director of the Turning Point Center of Addison County. I'm going to shut my door. I'm sorry. All right, I'm here on behalf of our organization as well as a member of the Recovery Partners of Vermont to ask for your support for the $420,000 one time FY26 budget adjustment request. These funds, as already mentioned, will help six recovery organizations across Vermont maintain existing services and avoid operational deficits during a period of growing demand. So the Turning Point Center of Addison County, like other recovery centers, are peer led and a low barrier recovery organization. We provide a safe, welcoming space for people impacted by substance use disorder, as well as individuals experiencing isolation, housing instability, or gaps in access to other services. Our role is simple, but essential. We offer connection, stability, and support when people need it the most. Over the past year, the demand for our services has increased in clear and measurable ways. Participation in our recovery groups has grown by 20%. Engagement in one on one recovery coaching has increased by 27%. And in response to these needs, we have increased the number of groups we're offering by 60%. These increases reflect people actively seeking support and relying on recovery centers as a consistent part of their lives. This growth is not happening in isolation. People are coming to us when other systems are difficult to navigate, understaffed or unavailable. We're often the place people turn while they're waiting for housing, behavioral health care or benefits, and when they simply are just trying to stay grounded and connected. Because we're peer led and low barrier, individuals often engage with us early before their situation escalates into crisis. This early connection matters. It helps people stay engaged in recovery, reduces likelihood of reoccurrence, and stabilizes individuals before they require higher levels of care. From a systems perspective, recovery centers help reduce pressures on emergency departments, inpatient treatment, and other high cost interventions while operating at a relatively low cost. The challenges we face now is sustainability. The budget adjustment request is not about expansion or new initiatives. It's about maintaining the level of services that Vermonters are already using and increasingly relying on. The current funding structure has not kept pace with demand and the gaps in is now translating into real operational strains. For the Turning Point Center of Addison County, this funding represents the difference between stability and contraction. Without it, we may be forced to make difficult decisions that could limit access, such as reducing group offerings, decreasing recovery coaching availability, or scaling back hours at a time when community needs continue to grow. Recovery centers are a cost effective improvement part of the Vermont substance use system of care. We leverage lived experience, peer leadership, and community partnerships to support people in ways that complement, not duplicate clinical services. When recovery centers are stable, the entire continuum works more effectively. I want to acknowledge the broader context that we're also operating in. As other community organizations downsize or close, and as uncertainty at the federal level increases, recovery centers are absorbing more responsibility. We're doing that because it aligns with our mission, but it's not sustainable. We cannot sustain this role without adequate support. The 420,000 FY26 budget adjustment is targeted, responsible, and timely. It preserves the existing network that is already delivering meaningful outcomes aligned with the state's prevention and recovery goals. Protecting this infrastructure now prevents greater costs and disruptions later. So again, thank you for your time and I am happy to answer any questions.

[Theresa Wood (Chair)]: Thank you very much. Questions for Danielle? All right, well, you for being very succinct and to the point. Appreciate it. Okay, Lila.

[Lila Bennett (Executive Director, Journey to Recovery Community Center, Newport)]: Hi, everybody. Thank you for having me too. And I'm basically going to echo everything that Danielle just said. But I do appreciate you always working so hard to listen to us and to work with us and to help us grow our centers. My name is Lila Bennett. Am the Executive Director of Journey to Recovery Community Center in Newport, Vermont, and we are part of Recovery Partners of Vermont. Last year, the Recovery Centers had a budget request of 1,600,000.0 to maintain our programming at our centers across Vermont. And we were appropriated 800,000, which we are very thankful for and helped a lot. There was a distribution issue though, of like how it was distributed among all the centers was not how we planned on that happening. And that went through the department. And so it left a number of our centers scrambling to maintain our programming as we're growing rapidly. As such, we're asking for the legislature to appropriate another $420,000 in this one time funding in fiscal year twenty twenty six to protect our critical services at the six recovery centers across the state. And all the members of Recovery Partners of Vermont do support this request. The funds are imperative and they are really to assist with the health of the state of Vermont as a whole, because we are saving lives in increasing numbers year after year, which is reducing burden on other parts of our system across the state. Journey to Recovery was a staff of one in 2020 and is now a staff of 11. We run two groups per day, We are open seven days a week. We average around eight people per group. We have increased the number of people engaging in recovery coaching rapidly every year. We had a 50% increase this year in adults and we had a 100% increase in youth. We send people to treatment every week, an average of two new people per week go to treatment. We've created a recovery community at the center that welcomes people back after treatment and supports them in staying sober. And we have expanded into sober living and supporting men truly healing 20. We have done the work to look at the system and we've seen what was broken and we've addressed the gaps. We have a working system here in Newport. It's powerful and it saves lives every day. We don't need to keep breaking through the barriers now. We have done the work and now we need to maintain what we have. We're asking for your support to keep this hard work working. We're helping people return to the workforce and become taxpayers instead of repeat emergency department visits, repeat visits to treatment, repeated 911 calls for overdoses. We are actually seeing people achieve long term recovery here. The word is out and we have new people and we have an average of five newcomers a week engaging in our program. An increase in the people served represents more people seeking services to stay in recovery and off substances. There is so much need in the state of Vermont. And I look at systems as a whole because I am a systems person. And there is nothing more impactful to spend our money on than recovery because it does ripple into every other part of the fabric of Vermont, workforce, health, education, parenting, housing, transportation. When you help people get better, it costs us all less overall. And then let's not forget the real price saving, loved ones. I also do believe that there is a spiritual price that we are all paying in this world when we forget what we're actually trying to accomplish. We can be smart and we can help people by spending money wisely and maintaining these programs is fiscally responsible and socially imperative. That's why we're asking for the additional 420,000 in the budget adjustment to help the six recovery centers, which would get us to 75% of the reported needs among recovery partners of Vermont, which is really pretty great. And I can tell you specifically that for our, what we're asking for this for is, we have 11 staff now and we are a recovery friendly workplace. And as costs of healthcare are going up, and there's a lot that goes into supporting staff to do this really difficult work. And we have to be able to protect the people who are helping the people. And when we can't offer to stay in line with healthcare costs and all of that stuff, it puts us in a position of having to look at how are we helping everybody and protecting staff and helping people do this really frontline work. So I just want you to understand that that's what we're doing is looking at the whole picture of protecting staff while we're helping people. Thank you

[Theresa Wood (Chair)]: Thank so you very much, Lila. I appreciate it. Questions for Lila? Okay. All right. Thank you, folks, from the Recovery Centers, thank you for all the work that you do on an ongoing basis. Appreciate it. Appreciate it very much. And we do know that you are saving lives every day. So thank you very much.

[Brenda Siegel (Executive Director, End Homelessness Vermont)]: Okay.

[Theresa Wood (Chair)]: Thank you for being here. We're going to turn to Vermont Legal Aid now. Welcome. Thank you. Happy to be here. Good morning, everybody. Morning. Morning.

[Bessie (Betsy) Weiss (Interim Executive Director, Vermont Legal Aid)]: My name is Bessie Weiss, and I am the interim executive director of Vermont Legal Aid. Thank you for giving us this time. Along with our partner, Legal Services Vermont, we provide the core infrastructure for Vermont's civil legal assistance efforts. We offer free legal advice and representation to low income Vermonters from four offices located across the state. We also operate a legal helpline providing quick legal advice, information, and referral. And we maintain a website focused on helping Vermonters solve their legal problems themselves. That gets over 600,000 hits per year. Our services have a very large impact. Together, we field 26,000 requests for legal assistance annually. In 2025, we directly assisted 18,000 Vermonters. We provide full representation in approximately 200,000 to 3,000 cases per year. Despite the overwhelming need for legal services, this will be our third straight year that we have not received an increase in our appropriation from the Agency of Human Services. Level funding has hit us especially hard in state fiscal year 2026 because of significant federal funding cuts and increases to health insurance premiums. In state fiscal year 2025, Vermont Legal Aid lost over $4,500,000 in federal funding and almost $1,300,000 in funds from HUD that for nineteen years had funded our housing discrimination project and $3,200,000 in funds that had come from the emergency rental assistance program for our Housing For Everyone law project. This has meant the painful loss of a total of 11 staff, nine attorneys and two paralegals. That's why we are here and why we are asking for an increase in the state fiscal year 2026 appropriation. I I wanna also reflect back on my on what we've lost. That, what we lost was a tremendous amount in capacity to help people facing eviction, housing loss in the state of Vermont during our unprecedented housing crisis. That's why we're here. We're asking for an increase in our state fiscal year 2026 appropriation. This increase would compensate us for inflation and restore two staff attorney positions in our poverty law project and provide more funding for our helpline. The poverty law project provides general legal services and is being squeezed as a greater percentage of our appropriation goes to mandatory statutorily required legal services, such as involuntary mental health treatment cases, protective services, and Act two forty eight cases. Specifically, we are asking for $535,600 That amount will compensate for inflation and fund the two staff attorney positions. Our statewide helpline fields 26,000 calls. It provides Vermont Legal Aid with many of our case referrals and provides some level of direct assistance to 18,000 Vermonters, but it is significantly underfunded. Legal Services Vermont receives just $100,000 through our AHS appropriation. The total operating cost is over $900,000 Due to the reduction in staff, we have already needed to restrict the types of calls that receive a callback, and the callback time for non urgent calls has increased to almost two weeks. Without additional funds, those services will likely be further reduced. That is why we are asking for an additional $100,000 for the statewide helpline. Increasing funding for the poverty law project and the legal helpline is a good investment in two ways. The first is that for every dollar spent on general legal services, which include access to public benefits, food, energy assist assistance, Social Security disability, and housing, the Agency of Human Services gets 50¢ back in federal matching funds. The second reason is that a 2019 study commissioned by the Vermont Bar Foundation found that legal assistance programs generate $11 in economic activity for each dollar invested in Vermont Legal Aid and and other legal assistance providers. And finally, the outlook for future federal funding is bleak. It is highly likely that congress will be cutting funding to the Legal Services Corporation that is the primary funder of Legal Services Vermont by 3.8% for the current year. At Vermont Legal Aid, despite having once again been awarded HUD grants for housing discrimination in September, HUD has yet to begin formal negotiations for us to actually receive these funds. And an application we submitted in August to the Office for Victim of Crime, that part of the Department of Justice, for funds that are available to represent elders in abuse and neglect cases has yet to receive a response. We do understand that you all, us all, are facing unprecedented challenges this session, and we appreciate the funding we receive year to year through the state and with your help. And I really appreciate this opportunity this morning. Thank you again for the opportunity to speak with the committee this morning, and I'm happy to answer any questions. Thank you, Betsy. Appreciate A

[Theresa Wood (Chair)]: question going back to the decreases that you've seen. The biggest one looks like the ERAP one, which was, of course, we know funded through COVID funds and was only intended to be one time for a specific period of time. And what did you see for outcomes from that, I guess? Do you have any information about the evictions prevented or the sustainability of housing for people or things that tie directly to client outcomes? We absolutely do have that information. I can speak to some of it. I don't have the numbers at my fingertips, but we absolutely have that data.

[Bessie (Betsy) Weiss (Interim Executive Director, Vermont Legal Aid)]: So what we saw for outcomes is that we were able to represent everyone who wanted our representation, essentially. The other outcome that I'm well aware of is that the eviction docket has risen by 45%. And it is the primary case in civil courts. So having a lawyer on the other side really helps the court to be efficient. The other thing I know is that Oh, and I'm just going to say one more thing, then I'm going turn it over to Sam, since he's crazy. The other piece that I know is that we settle a large, usually the vast majority of cases, where we are on the other side, those cases settle. And we provide, in terms of the, I mean, there's so many factors that leading to the housing crisis now, staggering rents and incredibly low vacancy rate. So how sustainable the housing we were able to see, I think we wanted better numbers on that. But we had made the process at least more humane for all of the people we represented. And Sam?

[Sam Abel-Palmer (Executive Director, Legal Services Vermont)]: Sam, Sam Angle Palmer, I'm the executive director of Lead Services for lots of we run the helpline and the website, but we also do split the eviction cases. Back before the pandemic, we had some grants to do to start these what we call the Ridesivir Clinics in a number of counties. And specifically in Rutland County we did a longitudinal study through the Center for Rural Studies at UDM where we looked at what those outcomes were. And there were a number of, I mean absolutely the rate of retention of housing went up at least 20 to 30%. What we found especially was that the number of people where there were default judgments because they didn't know what to do, they didn't know how to answer their claims, they didn't know that they could negotiate a move out agreement, all of those things, the number of defaults judgments went way down. And conversely, the amount of court time for each case also went down. So it was actually very much more efficient for the courts having those lawyers in there. We just had to end the Rutland and Addison County Red Esme clinics because of our reduced staffing. Bessie talked about the reduced staffing there. We've lost two paramedles from three housing attorneys and that was out of a staff of 19 or 18. We're down to 13. And we're still trying to run this helpline, but again, we're returning as many calls. It's a laser much greater. All of that is the direct impact. And we just barely, Spencer said, found out that our policy funding is going to cut going into this coming year.

[Theresa Wood (Chair)]: And have you made any inquiries to the judiciary for We are certainly, Andrea,

[Bessie (Betsy) Weiss (Interim Executive Director, Vermont Legal Aid)]: you might be able to speak to that. We are certainly going to be asking for an opportunity to speak to House judiciary.

[Theresa Wood (Chair)]: I don't mean our judiciary, mean the judiciary. Capital T and J.

[Daniel Noyes (Clerk)]: Because we take sides in cases, I don't think they can find us.

[Theresa Wood (Chair)]: That's probably true. Yes, go ahead, Representative Cole. Thank you.

[Jubilee McGill (Member)]: First of all, want applaud your resilience. That's a hit, and we see you in this committee, and we'll see how hard you worked in this web.

[Bessie (Betsy) Weiss (Interim Executive Director, Vermont Legal Aid)]: Especially our staff. Absolutely. Yes.

[Jubilee McGill (Member)]: So I mean, it's kind of just frozen thinking about the impact here. Believe, did you say 11 attorneys were laid out recently?

[Bessie (Betsy) Weiss (Interim Executive Director, Vermont Legal Aid)]: So 11 told staff between our two organizations that total nine attorneys and two paralegals. Okay.

[Jubilee McGill (Member)]: So I'm hearing about case load because I think we're going to see almost a direct translation. The number of cases that could be seen there, I think we're going see in other ways trickle them to other avenues. So about how many cases is each one

[Bessie (Betsy) Weiss (Interim Executive Director, Vermont Legal Aid)]: of those attorneys have they been taking on? Anne, I actually looked at UBM for recent numbers. But a couple of things. One, and maybe you could speak to this with the general assistance cases. They take on absolutely as many as they possibly can and as efficiently as they can. And the other factor, is that we are in an ongoing discussion about our priorities and how we can, in this, with reduced staffing, make the biggest impact. And so that means fewer full representation cases and more counsel and advice, and also being strategic in looking for high impact cases.

[Daniel Noyes (Clerk)]: And where that's showing up on our end, and this gets back to the health line operations that Gus was talking about, where BLA have been providing full representation in there were at least six different counties, especially in the South and in the Northeast Kingdom. Those cases now where they are no longer able to provide that representation are coming to my helpline in maybe one or two phone calls that we can talk to somebody and provide some advice and direct them to the website. But that's all they're getting.

[Bessie (Betsy) Weiss (Interim Executive Director, Vermont Legal Aid)]: Do you have any case average sort of in your So

[Deanna Hartog (Legal Fellow, Vermont Legal Aid)]: for the record, Deanna Hartog, Palm Green Law Fellows for Model Legal Aid. Cases,

[Brenda Siegel (Executive Director, End Homelessness Vermont)]: so

[Deanna Hartog (Legal Fellow, Vermont Legal Aid)]: I work with people experiencing homelessness. My caseload really differs depending on what's going on So in the as an example, back in the summer when I think we spoke about we were doing, there were hundreds of appeals happening at the Human Services Board. We had also just lost two attorneys that were working on that work with me as well. So I was the primary on those cases. I think it got up to 60 something cases at once, which that's a lot to be doing full representation appeals form. And it got to the point where I couldn't represent everyone, which was really painful. We had to just give limited advice to folks. We obviously worked with Emblem Assist Month. They took a ton of those cases. But I think that was a demonstration of a confluence of lots of resources with a really high need and not being able to meet that need. And then also just speaking to kind of some of that systemic work, I think is something that I struggle with because I am one of the leads on homelessness law is the balance between systemic advocacy and impact litigation, which obviously takes a significant amount of resources. And that pulls me away from being able to do direct casework. And so if we had more resources that could help with impact litigation or help with direct casework, it wouldn't be choosing either or. It would be able to do both.

[Brenda Siegel (Executive Director, End Homelessness Vermont)]: But right now, we are able to do both.

[Theresa Wood (Chair)]: All right, other questions? Yes, go ahead, Bishop.

[Doug Bishop (Member)]: Sorry, it may have

[Chad Simmons (Executive Director, Housing & Homelessness Alliance of Vermont)]: been in your testimony, but the timing of the loss of those federal funds. So the HUD money we lost, I think it

[Bessie (Betsy) Weiss (Interim Executive Director, Vermont Legal Aid)]: was January 2025. And you're absolutely right, Representative Wood. We anticipated the loss of the ERAP money, but it was a huge loss.

[Theresa Wood (Chair)]: It's so hard. That

[Bessie (Betsy) Weiss (Interim Executive Director, Vermont Legal Aid)]: ended in June 2025, And much less money on some vehicle. Go

[Theresa Wood (Chair)]: ahead. Oh, you got your hand up. Okay. Alrighty. Thank you very much. Thank you all for being here. We appreciate it. And thanks to all of the witnesses that we have this morning. Have some committee deliberations that'll be taking place. And I don't know if the legal aid folks and not legal services were here when I said that the Appropriations Committee is going to be holding a public hearing on BAA. So you should look for the notice on the front page and the legislature's web page. So it'll probably be helpful to do both. Folks. So we're back here at 1PM, and we're going be taking a look at a wholly different issue. But we're going to be looking at one of the reports that have been submitted to us about supervised visitation for individuals through the Vermont Network of Disisting Folks with Domestic Violence. And so we'll be looking at that. And then after that, we're going to dig into our discussion about budget adjustment and all the stuff that we've heard today and hopefully come up with some sort of preliminary recommendations. Okay? All right.