MONTPELIER, Vt. (WCAX) – The Vermont Senate on Thursday gave preliminary approval to a measure aimed at winding down the state’s beleaguered homeless hotel program and handing off responsibility to social service agencies.

H. 91, which has already passed the House, aims to transition the state’s emergency housing policy by transitioning responsibility to Community Action Agencies with the responsibility of housing people, as well as pairing them with other substance use, mental health, and other services.

The governor and lawmakers have sparred for the past two years about funding the emergency housing program after pandemic-era federal funding dried up.

As of earlier this month, the Agency of Human Services says just over 1,000 households were eligible for the state’s hotel-motel program. That includes about 1,300 adults and 470 children.

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