📰 [Vermont Public] Housing shortage for Vermonters with developmental disabilities spurs call for more funding
- Joe Grabowski
- 18 hours ago
- 1 min read
Housing shortage for Vermonters with developmental disabilities spurs call for more funding
DECEMBER 2nd, 2025
As Beth Davis and her husband move further into their 70s, they’re reckoning with the practicality of life in their home in Shoreham.
“We’re getting older, you know?” Davis said. “We’re starting to have issues that old people have — physical, mental.”
It’s not their own housing situation they’re most concerned about, however. Rather it’s what happens to their 43-year-old son when they can no longer provide the supportive housing environment he needs.
The shortage of housing for the 3,400 Vermont adults with developmental and intellectual disabilities who qualify for supportive living arrangements is about to get worse as the parents many of them live with grow older. And as the Davis family has learned in recent years, there often aren’t any options for families making that transition.
“So we’re just really stuck,” Davis said. “Where do we go from here?”
A new report commissioned by the Vermont Legislature attempts to provide some answers. A 12-person committee that included lawmakers, executive branch officials, housing industry representatives and advocates is calling on lawmakers to allocate more than $60 million over the next five years to bolster the infrastructure and workforce that will be needed to ensure safe and dignified housing for people with developmental disabilities.
Copyright 2025 Vermont Public. All rights reserved.
For more information about the Hamesbest project, please visit https://uvs-vt.org/housing.
To support this project, please visit https://uvs-vt.org/giving.