Hotel-motel winter rules expire Friday, forcing hundreds to lose rooms - WCAX

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BURLINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) - Hundreds of homeless Vermonters are set to be kicked out of their state-funded motel rooms on Friday as the emergency program’s wintertime adverse weather regulations expire. While the Scott administration is opening temporary shelters, critics say that the plan falls far short of what is needed.

Terry Ciccolella has been living at a hotel in Montpelier for over a year. “Literally, I’m still homeless. Yes, I have a room but this isn’t my own home,” Ciccolella said.

She says she moved to Vermont with her husband from out of state and then they lost their housing. She lives at the hotel with the uncertainty about the future of the state-funded hotel-motel voucher program. “Some of my medications are narcotics, so if you put me in a tent and ask me to tent it, what if people come to steal it?” Ciccolella said.

Amidst the dire need for shelter and confusion among recipients over twists and turns in the emergency housing program over the past year, the state on Friday will stop providing vouchers for around 500 households as the program’s annual adverse weather policy expires.

“This is what happens every year or has happened every year pre-pandemic,” said Department for Children and Families Commissioner Chris Winters. He says normally it was about a few hundred households but considering the increased numbers, the state is providing a bridge, opening shelters around the state. “These temporary shelters are just an additional step down for those who haven’t made plans yet, to try to connect them with services to allow them a little bit more time... The state has never provided this type of step down shelter before. We thought it was important this year given the large numbers and the lack of affordable housing.”

But some lawmakers remain critical of the Scott administration’s plans. “We find the action around the un-housing of people from the hotels with such poor planning to be totally unacceptable,” said Rep. Theresa Wood, D-Washington/Chittenden, who chairs the House Committee on Human Services.

Wood was joined by House Speaker Jill Krowinski, D-Burlington, Friday poking holes in the plan and saying more needs to be done. “Lives are at risk, communities are completely in the dark,” Krowinski said.

“Do not force people out of where they have had some stability to move them to a temporary shelter where they are going to have to only stay at night,” Wood added.

Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger late Thursday added his voice to the opposition for temporary shelters, including at the state building at 108 Cherry Street in Burlington. “It is shocking that the State’s motel guests, Vermont cities, affected downtowns, schools, law enforcement officials, and service providers are being given hours to prepare for the opening of four huge temporary shelters around the state,” Weinberger said in a statement. He urged officials to continue the Adverse Weather Condition program through Sunday night.

Hotel recipients like Ciccolella say they feel there is no set plan for the future and are worried about what’s next. “I will be right back in this situation two months from now,” she said.

Those temporary shelters that are being set up will be in Burlington, Berlin, Bennington, and Rutland. State officials say how long they stay open will depend on if they are being used. They also say some of those set to lose their vouchers can qualify to stay on if they have a documented disability or health condition.

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Hotel-motel winter rules expire Friday, forcing hundreds to lose rooms - WCAX

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