Court Grants Temporary Restraining Order Against DCF for the GA Emergency Housing Program
Update on 5/19/2025
On May 16, the parties and judge in this case signed a Stipulated Preliminary Injunction. It conditionally certifies the case as a class action, and requires DCF to provide a Notice of Eligibility when an emergency housing authorization is approved, allows people who are approved for 10 days or more to reapply at least 10 days before the end of their authorization, and requires DCF to provide written notice of application denials and terminations. See the WCAX-TV3 news report.
Photo: Part of the legal team from Vermont Legal Aid (Leah, Sandra and Maryellen) with Brenda and Zoe from End Homelessness Vermont.
For Immediate Release, May 1, 2025
Court Grants Temporary Restraining Order Against the Vermont Department of Children and Families for the GA Emergency Housing Program
Groundworks Collaborative, Inc., et al. v. Vermont Agency of Human Services, et al.; Vermont Superior Court, Chittenden Unit, Case No. 24-CV-00999.
Today, Judge Samuel Hoar granted Vermont Legal Aid’s request for a Temporary Restraining Order against the Department of Children and Families for routinely violating the rights of people in the GA Emergency Housing Program. The court order requires the Department to immediately stop evicting people from the motels with no adequate notice or due process. The decision marks a huge win in Vermont Legal Aid’s ongoing lawsuit against the Department, filed last March in response to the Department’s failure to adequately ensure all participants in the program were screened for eligibility before being ejected from their only shelter.
Today’s decision requires the Department to create and send timely written notices to participants before terminating their benefits. This means that people should not be told over the phone by the Department that very same day that they must leave their only shelter immediately and without any notice.
“This decision is a huge win for our most vulnerable Vermonters living in the motels,” said VLA Attorney Maryellen Griffin, lead counsel in the case. “People should not be forced out of their only home without any due process of law.”
The case continues, and a hearing on the Plaintiffs’ request for a Preliminary Injunction will be heard on May 16, 2025.
For press inquiries, please contact Sandra Paritz at sparitz@vtlegalaid.org.