Motel Program

The Vermont General Assistance (GA) Emergency Housing/Motel Program has impacted Brattleboro in three key ways: extreme strain on municipal budgets, loss of local tourism revenue, and heavy policing demands at participating motels. [1, 2, 3]

Impacts on Brattleboro

• Municipal and Budget Strain: The program acts as an unfunded mandate, forcing local police, fire, and EMS departments to shoulder increased emergency response burdens. First responder costs at GA motel sites were estimated to total roughly $646,000 over the 2025 fiscal year. [1, 2, 3]

• Loss of Local Tax Revenue: Brattleboro relies heavily on its meals, rooms, and alcohol tax, which generates about $500,000 annually. Because the state uses local hotels for long-term housing, those rooms cannot be rented to tourists, directly cutting into municipal revenue. [1]

• Public Safety and Policing: There have been significant public safety and service concerns surrounding the concentration of vulnerable populations in commercial motels. Some hotels in the program average 7 to 9 emergency calls per room per year, taking resources away from the rest of the community. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

• Tourism Contraction: With a shrinking number of participating motels, local lodging operators have struggled to maintain their traditional tourist bases. [1, 2, 3]