Housing advocates urge data-driven approach to landlord-tenant bills, warn of eviction-driven homelessness

Advocates who testified before the House General & Housing Committee on Feb. 11 urged lawmakers to prioritize data and mitigation before advancing several landlord-tenant bills, including H.772.

A presenter identifying herself with End Homelessness Vermont described a multi-phase study (Sept. 2023–Feb. 2024) that interviewed roughly 200 people across five counties and 10 towns. She reported that 103 of those interviewees were lifelong Vermonters, and that many respondents first experienced homelessness as children or young adults. The witness said the study recorded 84 total evictions across respondents and that 41 of those were characterized as "no-cause" evictions; other causes included condemnation, fleeing violence and rent unaffordability.

The witness argued that existing enforcement of landlord obligations and health-and-safety remedies often fails tenants in poverty because they lack legal support and fear retaliation. She recommended several non-legislative and legislative options: expand restorative-justice or mediation pathways, fully fund enforcement for eviction-for-danger pathways (including timely inspections and follow-up), and commission an independent, neutral research study to inform law changes rather than moving hastily.

Chad Simmons, executive director of the Housing and Homelessness Alliance of Vermont, echoed the call for investments. He highlighted coordinated-entry and point-in-time data, saying, "As of December, we identified at least 4,000 people, are are self identified as literally homeless." Simmons warned that eviction alone will not reduce system costs and noted market dynamics (low vacancy, short-term rental growth) that shape landlord behavior. He recommended judicial process efficiencies, rental-arrears programs through state housing authorities, expanded legal representation for tenants and landlords, funding for restorative-justice capacity, and specialized crisis housing for people with substance-use or mental-health crises.

Committee members asked about data details, methodology and enforcement gaps; the End Homelessness Vermont witness said the phase-3 study will address timing questions (for example, whether disabilities developed before or after housing loss) and offered to submit methodology and additional charts in writing. The committee paused for a scheduled break and indicated further budget and bill hearings will follow.

What happens next: advocates said they will provide written study materials and methodology; the committee did not vote on any bills during the hearing segment covered here.