The Vermont Human Services Board recently ruled that emergency housing nights before July 1, 2025, do not count towards the 80-day maximum. If you have been denied emergency housing by Economic Services because you have used 80 days of emergency housing, AND you have not used 80 days since July 1, 2025, you can appeal. (If you have used 80 days of emergency housing since July 1, 2025, you do not have a basis to appeal.)
How to appeal
Step 1: Get denied by Economic Services
Before you can appeal, you need to be denied by DCF Economic Services. Call Economic Services at 1-800-775-0506 and apply for emergency housing. Ask them why you are being denied. If they say it is because you have used 80 days of emergency housing, AND you have not used 80 days since July 1, 2025, you can appeal. (If you have used 80 days of emergency housing since July 1, 2025, you do not have a basis to appeal.)
Step 2: Ask for a fair hearing
To appeal the decision, you will ask for a “fair hearing” with the Human Services Board. You can:
- Tell Economic Services that you want to request a fair hearing. They will take your information and send your request to the Human Services Board, or
- Call the Human Services Board at 802-828-2536. Tell them you are requesting a fair hearing to appeal the denial of emergency housing, or
- Email contact.hsb@vermont.gov. In the email, say you want a fair hearing to appeal the denial of emergency housing.
Step 3: Decide if you want to ask for housing pending the appeal
As part of the fair hearing process, you can ask the Hearing Officer to order the department to give you short-term housing. Anyone is allowed to ask for this. This is temporary emergency housing while your appeal is heard. The Hearing Officer calls this “housing pending appeal.” If you would like to ask for temporary housing during your fair hearing, you should make that request when you ask for the fair hearing (see Step 2).
Once you have asked that the Hearing Officer order housing pending appeal, a pre-hearing telephone call will be scheduled. During this call, you should tell the Hearing Officer that you are likely to win your appeal because you have not used 80 days of emergency housing since July 1, 2025. You should also tell the Hearing Officer how you will be harmed if housing is not ordered.
If you have young children, tell the Hearing Officer this. If you have any medical conditions that make you more vulnerable, tell the Hearing Officer this. You need to tell the Hearing Officer that you will suffer physically and/or mentally if you are not housed until your fair hearing.
It is important to understand that if the Hearing Officer orders housing, you will be using the emergency housing nights you have left for the year. You might decide you do not want to use these nights yet. For some people, it makes more sense to save these nights until it gets colder. (From December 1, 2025, through March 31, 2026, the 80-night maximum does not apply.)
Step 4: Prepare for the fair hearing
A fair hearing with the Human Services Board is done over the phone. The Human Services Board will assign your case to a Hearing Officer. Your hearing will not be in front of the board yet. A Hearing Officer will first evaluate your case and then make a recommendation to the board.
At the time of your hearing, you will get a phone call from a Hearing Officer. The Hearing Officer will introduce themselves, tell you who else will be participating in the hearing, and explain how the hearing will proceed. If you have any questions, ask the Hearing Officer. They know how to help people who represent themselves in fair hearings.
The Hearing Officer is allowed to ask you questions. These questions will be about your eligibility for the emergency housing program and whether you have used any nights of emergency housing already this year. You should respond with complete honesty. It is very important to be respectful to the Hearing Officer.
The lawyer for Economic Services might also ask you questions about your situation. They may say things that you disagree with, but you should remain quiet while they are speaking. You will be given a chance to respond to them after they finish speaking. Remember not to interrupt the lawyer for Economic Services or the Hearing Officer.
Step 5: Make your legal argument during the fair hearing
The current law for emergency housing is called Act 27. Act 27 is limited to Fiscal Year 2026. Act 27 says that people get 80 nights of emergency housing during Fiscal Year 2026 if they are eligible. Fiscal Year 2026 started July 1, 2025, and ends June 30, 2026.
The Human Services Board has already ruled that emergency housing nights before July 1, 2025, do not count towards the 80-day maximum under Act 27. This means that starting July 1, 2025, everyone has 80 nights to use for the year if they meet all eligibility requirements.
During the fair hearing, tell the Hearing Officer that:
- The department told you on the phone and with a written decision (if you got a written decision) that you were denied emergency housing because you have already used 80 days.
- You have not used 80 nights of emergency housing since July 1, 2025. Tell the Hearing Officer when your last day in emergency housing was.
- You should be eligible for more emergency housing under Act 27 because you have not used 80 days yet, and you are otherwise eligible for emergency housing.
