On February 19, 2025, Julie Bond, the Executive Director of Good Samaritan Haven, testified before the Vermont House Human Services Committee at the Statehouse, providing critical insight into the challenges of serving people experiencing homelessness and the need for sustainable solutions.
During testimony, Bond highlighted the severe impact of last fall’s reductions to the General Assistance (GA) emergency motel program, which left many without shelter and placed immense strain on service providers. In response, Good Samaritan Haven partnered with community organizations to extend motel shelter to 76 individuals, including 14 families with 19 children through the fall.
“The destabilization of the shelter system due to GA motel reductions put lives at risk and pushed Vermont’s emergency shelters to the brink,” said Bond. “Without a sufficient safety net, we risk another crisis of unsheltering that will overwhelm providers across the state.”
On Friday, Governor Phil Scott signaled his reluctance to sign a spending package that would extend the GA motel program through June 30, 2025, instead suggesting that municipalities take on responsibility for sheltering Vermonters. Bond questioned that approach, noting the challenges associated with state funding processes and the immense burden it would place on towns already struggling to recover from two years of devastating floods.
“We work very closely with our municipal partners, and we recognize the challenges they are already facing,” Bond said. “State grants and appropriations take time—time that people losing their shelter in March simply don’t have. If these motel exits proceed as planned, the strain on local services will only grow, and the long-term costs to both state and municipal systems will far exceed the cost of maintaining the motel program. Expecting towns like Montpelier, Berlin and Barre to absorb the impact of increased unsheltered homelessness places an unrealistic burden on local resources. The state must uphold its responsibility to ensure that no Vermonter is left without shelter.”
Bond also urged lawmakers to scrutinize other line items in the bill and question whether any less urgent spending could be reprioritized.
“There are always choices in a budget,” Bond said. “We should be asking what other spending in this bill is less of a priority—because nothing is more of a priority than ensuring people have a safe place to sleep.”
Good Samaritan Haven emphasized the need for a long-term, adequately funded strategy that spans state budget cycles to ensure emergency shelter capacity meets community needs. The organization remains committed to working with the State of Vermont and its partners to develop sustainable solutions to the housing and homelessness crisis.
Julie Bond’s Testimony on 2.19.25 in front of the Vermont House Committee on Human Services can be viewed here. It begins at 32:03.