Rep. Teresa Wood outlines plan to restructure Vermont homelessness services while keeping governor’s spending total

Rep. Teresa Wood told the Senate Health & Welfare Committee that her bill would lay statutory groundwork for a statewide system of homelessness services while staying within the governor’s proposed total budget.

Wood said the committee “stayed within the governor’s bottom line budget” but shifted where dollars would be spent to support a system she described as more “responsive and responsible” to people experiencing homelessness, service providers and funders. She said FY27 is intended as a transition year to test models and move some case management into community‑based providers while leaving a portion of funding at the department for evaluation and risk mitigation.

“Every place that we took testimony from said case management was critical to that,” Wood said, arguing the bill encourages providers to “think about how they see themselves in a newly constructed system.” She emphasized that permanent supportive housing funding is not provided by a single department, and that the committee took “an AHS‑wide view” when weighing changes.

Committee members pressed Wood about hotels and motels. Wood said the state has reduced hotel/motel funding over the past three years and offered an approximate cumulative reduction of “about $30,000,000.” She said shelter programs average higher per‑day costs but provide more comprehensive services: “we spend 80 to $85 depending … per day,” she said of hotel stays, while “shelter services on average cost … between 125 and a $130 per day.” Wood said the bill reduces hotel/motel funding and seeks to expand community services and, where feasible, convert some hotel rooms to single‑room occupancy or other permanent housing.

Wood also urged the panel to measure outcomes beyond simple placements: she noted Continuum of Care data show that many people placed in housing later return to homelessness and said the state needs an AHS‑wide effort — including substance‑use, mental‑health and long‑term care supports — to reduce revolving outcomes.

Sen. Morley and other committee members signaled general support while seeking clarifications on funding flows, metrics and the pace of the hotels‑to‑housing transition. Wood and members agreed to resume work on the bill at a committee session the next morning to fine‑tune language and prepare for a vote.

The committee did not take a final vote at this meeting.