Renee Weeks, director of shelter and clinical services at Upper Valley Haven in White River Junction, Vt., works with people in Vermont and New Hampshire. She sees a difference in how the two states approached homelessness and homelessness prevention, especially during the pandemic.

“Vermont was very responsive and resourceful,” she said. “I don’t know if New Hampshire was that responsive and resourceful.”

Vermont enacted a hotel voucher program meant to keep families and individuals housed when shelters needed to reduce capacity to allow for social distancing. The program allowed families to pay 30% of their income toward a hotel stay, with the state covering the rest, Weeks said. There’s nothing similar in New Hampshire, Weeks said.

Vermont also used CARES funding to give organizations like the Haven supplemental grants to support the increased demand for services brought about by the pandemic.

“We’ve added capacity thanks to funding through the state of Vermont,” Weeks said.

Vermont also has an after-hours program that can put homeless individuals in a hotel immediately.

“If the police come across someone at 10 p.m. and they have no place to stay, Vermont has a system where they call 211 and they can approve a hotel room until that person can get longer-term approval,” said Weeks.

There’s no statewide program in New Hampshire, although some towns, including Lebanon, have limited after-hours services “for emergencies, so people don’t freeze,” Weeks said.