It’s been a hell of a start to the holiday season for the Vermont Department for Children and Families. Shortly before Thanksgiving, it ordered more than 100 Economic Services Division staff members to return to office duty. They’d been allowed to work remotely since the pandemic, but no more.

The Department put this in terms of improving service to clients. Maybe so, but (1) that’s never been much of a priority for a division notorious for its lack of communication with clients, and (2) these orders are often deployed as a way to cut headcount, as some workers opt out rather than return to the office. And there’s precious little evidence that the Scott administration puts much stock in the quality of its human service programs.

Next we have the ongoing humanitarian crisis triggered by cuts in the General Assistance Emergency Housing program. According to the folks at End Homelessness Vermont, who do a damn sight better job of keeping in touch with clients than DCF, there have been at least seven deaths among former recipients of state-aid motel vouchers. Also, at least seven others have been hospitalized for hypothermia. Many more are at severe risk of illness or death.

And now we have a change in the GA housing program that will unshelter a new set of very vulnerable recipients. Merry Christmas, everybody!

The change was implemented today (December 10) with no advance notice to recipients, the press, or the public. End Homelessness Vermont issued a press release about it, which prompted me to seek information from DCF. Late in the day, I was sent a written response and a link to the new policy, Which reads like a purposefully bland bureaucratic document, but the implications are clear and dismaying.

What DCF is calling an “Administrative Procedure” will cap occupancy at 90% of available hotel/motel rooms by redefining “Vulnerable Populations” to exclude people with disabilities who are under the age of 50. There are currently 1,100 rooms in the system — which means that 110 will be kept vacant.

That’s a hell of a cut. If the average household size is 1.6 people, the Administrative Procedure will mean unsheltering as many as 160-170 people every night. And again, these are people officially classed as vulnerable.

Well, I guess they’re not officially classed as vulnerable anymore, at least not by the state, because the DCF’s Kafkaesque policy has disqualified anyone under 50 from that class, no matter what their disability. It would include, per EHVT, people “in a wheelchair, on oxygen, with a significant medical condition or complex mental health challenge, like schizophrenia.”

According to EHVT, most of those who have recently died or been hospitalized with hypothermia are in that very group: Under 50 with severe disabilities. This policy will mean even more deaths and life-threatening illnesses.

It also leaves hotel/motel operators in a bind. They’re accepting bargain-basement rates from the GA program, and now they’ll be getting no return at all on up to 10% of their rooms? If I ran a motel, I’d think about reducing my participation. Which then lowers the number of available rooms, which means the 90% limit cuts even closer to the bone. Lather, rinse, repeat, and the GA program suffers a slow strangulation.

The DCF statement posits the Administrative Procedure as a humanitarian initiative that preserves some vacancies for those “facing the most critical needs.” Okay, but how many people are going to qualify under the new rules and actually occupy those rooms? At least some will surely be left empty while vulnerable Vermonters face the elements on their own.

End Homelessness Vermont: “This is not only inhumane, it does not follow the law, which created no such prioritization categories and clearly states whom is eligible for shelter on a first come first serve basis.”

As you may recall, many families went unsheltered last winter because there weren’t enough motel rooms to meet the need. Now, the number of available rooms will be capped at 90% of capacity. On any given night, even in the dead of winter, dozens or even hundreds of people may be unsheltered due to this DCF procedure.

As cruel as this Administrative Procedure is, the real issue is the Scott administration’s continuing, years-long failure to craft an alternative to the voucher program or generate enough shelter capacity to serve those at risk. As EHVT put it, “While our fellow Vermonters are dying in significant numbers, our state should be using every available tool in its tool box.”

Our state is not doing so. This Administrative Procedure is just another sad chapter in the administration’s Great Book of Failure on shelter policy.

And hey, since ’tis the season, I’m reminded of something Jesus once said.

Now, that’d make one hell of a headline.

Scott Administration Unshelters Our Lord and Savior