Gov. Phil Scott’s treatment of the emergency housing program has been a case study in mismanagement with more than a hint of deliberate cruelty. But today, his administration outdid itself.

Extra bonus: He is openly defying the will of the Legislature as expressed in clear language that his own officials agreed to.

Let’s address the on-the-ground reality stuff first, and then we’ll circle back to process.

On Friday, the Adverse Weather Conditions (AWC, pronounced like a raptor call) program expires for the season. As it stands, roughly 500 people now housed in state-paid motel rooms will lose their shelter. And so the state is patching together a handful of temporary congregate shelters (think cots, communal bathrooms, and no known provision for food) in four cities across the state: Bennington, Berlin, Burlington, and Rutland.

But wait, there’s more! The shelters are nighttime-only. They will be open from 7:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m. During the daytime? You’re on your own.

But wait, there’s even more! They are only going to operate for one week, more or less.

But that’s not all! The shelters will be staffed by hastily-trained National Guard personnel with security duty contracted to local law enforcement, whose officers will be armed.

A reminder that most of these people would qualify for extended motel stays due to disability status, old age, youth, or other criteria.

Were they trying to create the worst possible program? It sure seems that way.

The details are unclear. State officials haven’t revealed locations, other than to say they have identified buildings in the four communities. Commissioner Chris Winters of the Department of Children and Families couldn’t provide a cost figure for the shelters when he testified before the House Human Services Committee today. Maybe he was telling the truth? One has to wonder if these seven-day shelters aren’t going to cost more than it would have to just keep the people in their motels.

Winters admitted to the committee that there has been virtually no communication with those 500 individuals before today because administration officials were debating the parameters of the shelter program so they, you know, didn’t have concrete information to offer.

So they’re going to rush hundreds of vulnerable Vermonters out of their stable housing arrangements into crowded, poorly-planned shelters… keep them there for maybe a week… and then, apparently, kick them out on the streets.

There is not a shred of compassion to be found in this plan. There is not a shred of human decency in sight. And on top of all that, the plan flies in the face of clear legislative intent as expressed in the Budget Adjustment Act, which was negotiated with administration officials and sent to the governor with near-unanimous support.

But see, the governor hasn’t signed the BAA (as of 1:00 p.m. today), which means the extension of the voucher program has yet to become law. And the administration is proceeding as if there is no BAA by enforcing the scheduled end of AWC on March 15.

This is what the lawyers call “a loophole.”

The Legislature intended to give all AWC clients the chance to qualify for an extended motel voucher program lasting through the end of the fiscal year. Lawmakers agreed that they didn’t want any vulnerable Vermonters to be put out on the streets. They tweaked the eligibility standards to make them more inclusive.

An important point: The homeless population is not fixed. People are always losing their housing or, on the other end, exiting the program after finding other accommodations. Since AWC opened for business in November, it has been the simplest way to get unsheltered people into motels. There was never any screening to determine eligibility for other emergency housing programs because why bother?

So those people have never been screened for broader eligibility. And the administration is not allowing the time for them to try to qualify. Well, they’re being given two whole days to do so. No extensions are being offered to people who are in the qualification process, awaiting a decision by the state.

The BAA passed its final legislative hurdle on March 1, almost two weeks ago. The governor has yet to take action on it. The emergency housing program has been held hostage. Scott’s officials have used the lack of action on the BAA to justify a lack of communication with clients and motel operators.

Meanwhile, the governor held his weekly press conference at noon today and used the occasion to bash the Legislature for its progress, or lack thereof, on regulatory reform when it comes to housing construction. Winters had spoken to Human Services at 11:30, outlining many details of the temporary shelter program. But when asked about it, Scott would only say that his administration is working on a shelter program. No details. That was a lie.

Extra bonus points: Human Services Secretary Jenney Samuelson asserted, over and over again, that ther agency was “working very closely” with voucher clients. This, we know from Winters’ own testimony, was also a lie.

This is, in the words of housing advocates, “a manufactured crisis.” Manufactured with no clear rationale. Is it a simple, garden-variety administrative botch? Is it an act of deliberate malice? Is the governor so bound and determined to end the voucher program that he’s willing to cast aside considerations of humanity, fairness, and whatever trust he has left with the Legislature?

I can’t tell you why he’s doing this. What I can tell you is that it’s really bad. Really, really bad. With no redeeming qualities. It’s a new low.