Pending the signing of the Budget Adjustment Act, the nightly rate for the State’s General Assistance emergency housing program will be capped at $80 per night in partnering hotels and motels, the Scott administration said in a statement Friday.
Critics of the cap say some hotels and motels will refuse to rent to emergency housing program participants.
In preparation, the agencies of Administration and Human Services and the departments of Building and General Services (BGS) and Children and Families (DCF) have been working for weeks with the hotel and motels currently in the program to secure participation. The State has been able to secure agreement with enough hotel and motel owners to continue sheltering all those currently in rooms who continue to be eligible. More details can be found at the Department of Children and Families website.
Governor Phil Scott issued the following statement in response:
“This room rate cap is an important tool in our work to provide temporary, emergency shelter for our most vulnerable while moving to more permanent solutions. By reducing the cost we’re paying per room, we’ll be better able to fund this program as we work on other more effective solutions to permanently and safely shelter and house those in need.
“It’s important for program participants and Vermonters to understand that we’re continuing to wind down the pandemic-era approach, and there will continue to be changes to eligibility. This includes the annual shift in our Adverse Weather Conditions policy on March 15, which will make this policy weather dependent.
“This is going to continue to be a difficult transition, but we’re working to do it in a way that protects those with the greatest needs. Importantly, the expansion of this emergency housing program in recent years has not been the best approach to meeting the needs of unhoused individuals and the high cost is not sustainable for Vermonters. So, it’s critical for the Legislature to work with us on our proposals to make it less expensive, faster and easier to build housing and shelters. Restoring existing housing stock and creating new units is the only way to truly end homelessness in Vermont.
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Categories: Housing
has any one found out what a room rate has to be to cover costs///
Is there a list of hotels with addresses that participate?
They are usually easy to spot from a distance…they’re the ones with the barbecue grills out front and half of a bicycle chained to a post.
80 x 365 = $29,200 per year or $2,433.33 per month.
We are still getting robbed blind, who would pay that much for 1 small room, probably of low quality to boot.
They are hoping you don’t notice, even at this price a hotel could be paid off in full within 2 years.
We are being robbed blind, they are importing drug dealers and homeless, there is massive theft in Chittenden county, MASSIVE just ask any retailer, thousands of dollars walking out the store DAILY!!!!!!
The homeless my not have a home, but they have cell phones, they tell their friends, their drug dealers, Vermont is open for business, no permit necessary.
And Vermont’s “advocates” for those who claim to be homeless still argue that putting people up in simple hotel rooms is an insult to their dignity and that we can do much better. Out tax money really should be buying up houses on the lake in Charlotte and out on Shelburne Point to show how much we rally care.
Rich, it’s not because they care, it’s because they can’t make money off the affordable housing scam, biggest grifting in our state. For a studio apartment they will spend $500k, now that is what they consider dignity. Then they will subsidize the renter so he/she only has to pay $100 or $300 rent, further being more dignified. Then the housing project will get no intertest or very low interest or completely forgiven loans, all for the dignity of their clients of course.
We’ve got perhaps too much “dignity” going on in this state, aka grifting.
note before it was about 50,000.00 dollars per year for one small room///
And they’ll claim a victory in all the money they are “saving”.
And somehow with all this “savings” our taxes will go up another 20%, but we’ve saved so much money because they were going to be 30% higher…..
With all this savings our tax bills should only be $5/year.
Are we talking about Mom & Pop business owners or foreign owned, corporate business chains agreeing to take $80 per night? What else is offered in this agreement? Logically, $80 won’t cover power, water, taxes, or insurance for most of these Vermont commerical properties. They have to make a profit somehow or they can’t operate. Housing is one expense, what about the SNAP cards and medical expenses? Focus on what they don’t tell you – there is much more missing than being disclosed. They can’t paper over or continue lying through their teeth much longer…the corporation system is insolvent. Taxpayers and their money dwindling faster each day due to rising inflation, devaluing dollar, and concurrent recession.
It brings to mind the stupidity that led to the 2008 housing bust and recession.