AHS unveils phased housing plan, requests $89.3M in FY27 to expand shelters and services

Kristin McClure, Deputy Secretary of the Agency of Human Services, outlined a phased, multi‑department approach to expand shelter capacity, reshape emergency hotel/motel use and scale case management and rental assistance programs. For state fiscal year 2027, McClure said, "we're requesting $89,300,000 to invest in improving the system," echoing the administration's emphasis on pairing beds with on‑site services.

The proposal calls for near‑term investments that officials said will produce additional shelter beds in FY28–29 and modified 'shelter‑like' hotel/motel placements with case management, house rules and lease support. McClure told the committee roughly 100 shelter beds are already "in flight" to come online within 12 months, with another conservative estimate of 100 more if continued investment proceeds, plus about 300 'shelter‑like options' in the budget.

Lily Sorgen, director of the Office of Economic Opportunity, detailed a $1.4 million addition to the base for rental assistance and described how the office expects a mix of short‑term (<3 months), term (3–24 months) and more flexible subsidies to be available for targeted households. AHS also proposed $1.3 million to coordinate case management statewide and identified performance indicators: more households engaged in case management, higher exits to permanent housing, fewer shelter days and reduced re‑entries into homelessness.

Committee members repeatedly pressed for granular forecasting beyond FY27, citing an estimate of about 4,500 Vermonters experiencing homelessness and asking how many people the proposed capacity will serve year‑to‑year. AHS officials said they plan to tighten eligibility for traditional General Assistance emergency housing to focus on those with "no other option," and to shift from attestation toward verification of residency and homelessness in some instances.

The agency also flagged accountability measures in statute for emergency housing and noted existing misconduct rules that can result in temporary exit from the program; the department said it would work with legal staff on any statutory language changes.

Next steps for the committee included requests for a FY28 forecast of ongoing operating costs, a consolidated picture of all rental‑assistance line items across programs, and more data on residency verification and the projected population served by the proposed eligibility changes.