Vermont Disability Housing Options: Shared Living, Act 186 Pilots, and What's Available

Housing is the question that keeps Vermont families up at night. Your young adult is aging out of the school system, and the question of where they will live — and who will provide support — does not have an easy answer. Vermont's residential model has historically relied on two arrangements: living with family or shared living with a contracted provider. Both models are under strain, and new alternatives are only beginning to emerge.

How Shared Living Works in Vermont

Shared living is Vermont's version of adult foster care. A contracted provider — typically an individual or family — opens their home to an adult with a developmental disability. The provider receives a stipend and training from a Designated Agency, and the arrangement is monitored through the developmental services system.

Approximately 39% of individuals receiving HCBS developmental services in Vermont live in shared living arrangements, making it the state's most common residential model outside the family home. It works well when the match is right — the provider and individual build a genuine relationship, and the setting is a real home, not an institutional environment.

The problem is supply. Vermont faces an acute shortage of shared living providers. Stipend rates have not kept pace with the cost of housing and providing care, and the pool of available providers has contracted. In rural areas — which is most of Vermont — finding a shared living provider who matches the individual's needs, location preferences, and personality can take months.

Family Home: The 38% Reality

Thirty-eight percent of HCBS developmental services recipients in Vermont live with their families. For many families, this is the plan that works — their young adult stays home while receiving community supports, day services, and employment assistance.

But family caregiving has a shelf life. The legislative report under Act 69, Section 5 — titled The Road Home — documented that Vermont's developmental services system has pushed family caregivers to their physical limits. Aging parents who have been primary caregivers for decades eventually face health crises of their own, and when a primary caregiver becomes incapacitated or dies, the adult child enters a System of Care Plan funding priority: caregiver loss.

Planning for this inevitability — rather than waiting for the crisis — is one of the most important things families can do during the transition years.

Act 186 Pilot Programs: New Models in Development

Recognizing that shared living alone cannot sustain the system, Vermont passed Act 186 of 2022, which authorized planning grants for alternative housing models. Several pilot projects are in development:

• Riverflow in Monkton is developing a service-supported residential community
• Upper Valley Services is exploring supported apartment models integrated into affordable housing developments
• Champlain Housing Trust is working on onsite supported apartments within their existing housing portfolio

These pilots represent a shift from individual placements toward purpose-built or adapted housing where supports are available nearby or onsite. The models are still in planning and early construction phases, so they are not yet available for most families seeking immediate placement.

Section 8 and Other Housing Assistance

Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers are available to individuals with disabilities in Vermont, though waitlists are long and units with accessibility features are limited. Individuals receiving developmental services can hold a Section 8 voucher while also receiving HCBS waiver supports — the funding streams are separate.

Vermont Housing Finance Agency and local housing authorities manage the voucher programs. Your CMO (Benchmark or Columbus) can help coordinate the application, but the Section 8 waitlist operates independently of the developmental services system.

Staffed Living for Higher-Support Needs

For individuals requiring 24-hour supervision, staffed residential programs provide structured environments with around-the-clock staff. These placements are the most expensive option in the system — averaging over $140,000 per year per person — and are reserved for individuals whose safety needs cannot be met in shared living or family settings.

Access to staffed living is governed by the same System of Care Plan priorities. The combination of high cost and limited capacity means these placements are allocated only for documented health-and-safety-critical situations.

What Families Can Do Now

Start documenting your young adult's housing preferences and support needs early. During the IEP transition process, include post-secondary housing goals. When working with your CMO, explicitly discuss housing options and waitlists. And connect with Vermont's housing advocacy organizations — the Vermont Developmental Disabilities Council tracks legislative developments around housing models.

For the complete housing options comparison, provider contact information, and the transition planning timeline, see our Vermont SSI at 18 & Adult Disability Benefits Guide.

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