 So this morning we are fortunate to have with us this year, again, well for the first time this year, we have Homeshare now and Homeshare for a lot who are in the hard room and are going to give us an update of what's going on with that program, South Kirby. I'll just see. So we can get up to get and get spray. Does that work? Sure. Yeah. And we'll just, before you get going, we want to introduce ourselves. I'm Helen Head of South Burlington. Tom Stevens from Waterbury. Deon Salas from Newsy. Amitri Fields from Mannington. Vicki Strong from Albany. Brian Schradt from Derby. We have a lot here I think. Ed Reed from Feaston. Mary Howard from Roland City. Kevin Coach Christie from Hartford. Heidi Sherman from Stowe. And Tommy Walls from Ferris City. So welcome back. Thank you. Thanks for having us. Now we brought paper copies and I realized you do everything electronically, so I don't know if you'd like a paper copy of just some of our information. I will do it. I will send it to you electronically. I apologize. All right. I'm very old school still. I'm still trying to figure this thing out. I'll put it next to my rotary telephone. I show up on my phone and still has a dial on it. So this handouts just some information of the work that we've done combined with the two programs in Vermont over the past year. There you go. Perfect. Do you want me to dive right in? Sure. Since probably 2012 our home sharing programs have been using results-based accountability and cooperation with the state to think about how do we define success and how do we sort of move the needle so to speak. So we're looking at how much of the organization is doing, how well are we doing it, and is anyone better off. And so if you take a look at the chart, if you're a visual person, you can see that last year the programs cumulatively served just shy of 300 people in home sharing matches. And this number does not include all of the folks that come to us for what might be called more general housing assistance, needing a referral, needing advice, needing maybe enrolling in the program but opting not to home share or not finding a match. And so, for example, in the Central Vermont program where I serve, even though our number of matched folks was 115 people, we actually talked to over 750 people about what their housing option was in Central Vermont and beyond might be. Collectively, by working with home providers, we're in essence making housing stock available in owner-occupied homes that otherwise would not be available on the rental market. And so, again, to combine, we made 206 affordable housing units in essence available last year. And then by nature of a home share, many of our home seekers are providing services in lieu of at least some of their rent and this is what helps keep rents affordable. And so, those services, if you add them all up over the course of the year, that's that 36,847 hours of service that that home provider either might not otherwise have or would have had to pay for, for example. One of the ways that we think about, you know, are we doing, how well are we doing our work? Is that affordable? Is that average rent? And so, again, in Vermont, if you're out on the market, you might pay $750, $850 a month. And that's in Central Vermont, again, to have an apartment. But our average rent was $266 last year across all of our home shares. And you really can't beat that number. So, we feel really good about that. The other piece of measuring sort of what difference home sharing makes in our communities is that both organizations do an annual outcome survey where we're checking in with matches to find out, you know, what are they, how are they benefiting as a home sharing participant. And so, things like feeling safer, feeling healthier, worrying less, feeling more financially secure, not needing to call on friends and family as often for help. Those are all real clear markers that the work that we're doing is having a significant impact on an individual level and then, thus, on having a community impact as well. So, that's sort of an overview. And one of the things that isn't noted on here that will be available in the coming months in sort of final form is that our scorecard, our RBA scorecard, will soon be available in its final version on the Department of Disabilities in Aging and Independent Living's website. So, you can see how the work that we're doing is contributing to the goals in the Vermont State Plan on Aging in the midst of the other programs that they're heading up in the Department. So, we do get money from the State of Vermont through the Department of Aging and Disabilities. And that money is matched by some federal dollars through one of the waiver programs. And we've been very fortunate to receive that funding and that has been critical to our success. So, we want to thank all legislators for that. You are our largest funding source. We also get funding from a variety of foundations, towns, fundraising. But your funding is critical to our success. We want to let you know about some work that we've been doing on the national level with the National Shared Housing Resource Center, which is a program that kind of went to funk for a number of years. And we've brought it back to Vermont and we've played a leadership role in resurrecting that. And we're working with programs around the country to really expand home sharing opportunities. You know, home sharing programs are few and far between. And we think we know a lot about how to run good programs and so we're trying to help others do that. We get calls all the time from people around the country and we are in the midst of putting together a guidebook on how to start up a program. We're working with groups in California where there's a lot of activity going on and they're going to be hosting a national conference out there for the first time in ten years. The last time a national conference on home sharing was done was in Burlington ten years ago. So they're going to take turn hosting at this time and we're pretty excited about the work that's happening. There's a lot of talk, whether it's universities around the country or ARP or others. So we're hoping maybe home sharing's time has come in a bigger way than what it has been at least nationally. So we're very excited about the work we've been able to provide to move that along and see if we can scale these programs up a little bit to help more people. So we understand that you all have a very tight schedule today and so I'm curious if the committee has any specific questions that they would like us to address? Representative Stevens. I noticed that the average, using your sheet for information, the average stay was roughly 470, what, four days, which is 15 months or so. Do people just feel like they get back on their feet and then move on to the people who share it? I mean, I know there may be roommate issues. I mean, all those things are going, so what do you find is the most, the biggest reason why people move on and leave their home share? Yeah. So many of the home seekers that come to our program are using home share as a tool in transition and so that might be they're getting an education. It might be that they're in a job transition. It might be that there's been a divorce or split of a household or, you know, there's usually something that is sort of not going to win that of their sales and are, and so they're using it as a strategy to kind of get back on their feet. They're also on the other side of things is that our home providers is that, well, regardless of what your age, life is unpredictable and things like health status change, for example, can impact the effectiveness of a home share or something that worked really well as a home share. You have a health decline and they need more services where a home share maybe is no longer the most appropriate resource. So there's a number of reasons, contributed reasons on both sides. And then the other kind of piece is that, is that while this is the average for both programs, that isn't to say that both programs have a large number of folks who have been doing home sharing for, been in the same home share for five to 10, you have a really long one. Yeah, thank you. And so longer home shares do happen, those long-term relationships. And then the last thing I'll say is that home providers will often come to us for successive home shares. So for example, I've got a gal in East Montpelier. She's been home sharing for close to 10 years now. But over those 10 years, she's had four different matches. So it's been a long-term strategy for her. It's just, it's not captured in that number. Or do you work at all with AmeriCorps people who come in or people who are looking for inexpensive places that are going to be here for a year? I mean, absolutely. So we are, for example, our very first AmeriCorps member at this point four years ago came to us and was able to relocate from Pennsylvania to Central Vermont to serve at home share now by using our program for housing. There are a number of current AmeriCorps members through the BHCB who are currently using the program. I can think of two off the top of my head that are currently using the program. So there are certainly a number of young people who are looking to, whether it's relocate for AmeriCorps, for school, leave their parents' house for the first time. We see a small percentage of those. And Burlington offers, has a slightly different, you have the college community that is there. So you might be able to speak to that as well. You know, it is a little bit harder when people are moving here from away. We have typically a two-week trial period so that any match that happens, both parties get to sort of try it out for typically two weeks before they make a final commitment to each other. So that means the person who moves in has to have a place to go back to. And about 10% of our matches decide not to go forward in the trial period, but 90% do. But that's a real comfort to people, especially if you haven't shared your home with a stranger before, getting the chance to sort of try it out first and make sure it feels right. Because people are very reluctant to share their home. You know, issues of privacy, concerns about compatibility, safety and security are barriers to getting people to consider sharing their homes. So anything we can do to try to make it easier. So sometimes our process doesn't work for those folks that are coming from afar. If they don't have a place locally that they could sort of do live while there's a trial period. And people want to meet people. You don't want to Skype and look at somebody who's in Colorado and then decide, oh yeah, I'll have them move in. You want to check them out in person, you know. So, represent a SNP. Thank you. We spoke last year about this and I recall it now. These little arrows that show where the Northeast Kingdom is. Yeah, I know. And we had talked about you spreading into the Northeast Kingdom. You can keep that. Okay. And keep those arrows. Yup. That's Newport, and that's Island Pond, and that's Lyndonville, or St. Johnsbury. Yup. If you have the opportunity, your services would be appreciated in the Kingdom. Yup. I just spoke to someone yesterday from who was calling for her mom in St. Johnsbury. And so we know anecdotally and we have the best data that we can as far as reporting the number of calls that we get from the Northeast Kingdom asking if we can expand our service area. The only update that I can give you is that I do know that the folks that are working on collective impact out of St. Johnsbury, sort of out of the hospital there, which includes a whole number of players, right? Includes people who are thinking about housing, who are thinking about food, who are thinking about poverty, healthcare, opioids. They're really thinking big picture. And I know that Home Sharing is on their list of strategies that they'd like to consider as a community. That's sort of a slow process, a thoughtful process, but I do know that it's on their list and they've reached out to us to say, hey, when the time is right, can you come and talk to us about what it would take to start a program that's sort of focused in St. Jay? Or live in St. Jay? Could I give you a card so you could have someone call me and I'll try to hook you up with somebody in Newport? Yeah, and I'll connect your information also with the folks that I've been talking to. Yeah, please, please keep it. Thank you, Ryan. We do want to, you know, it would be great if Vermont was actually the first state in the country to have Home Sharing available everywhere. Amazing. And it's a capacity and a funding issue. And the way we've worked, you know, Home Share now started with our help in the Bay Area because there was a local group of volunteers who were really committed to doing this and there was a sponsoring organization, Agency on Aging, that said, okay, we'll take it on for the first five or six years. So, you know, that's what we really need in these other communities is we need a strong sponsoring organization and we need a group of volunteers that are willing to just get it off the ground. I am talking with some folks down in the Braillebrew area, I'm hoping that, you know, there's maybe some activity happening down there, we'll see. But it is something that we're committed to but we just can't spread ourselves. You know, you can't serve that from Barry. You know, you've got to have the local presence. Representative Sergeant Jacob won? Yeah. Okay. And then Representative Braille. So, I think that has bought my heart for Home Share. I think it's an awesome opportunity for a lot of reasons. But I'll tell you a little story in a minute. But I'd like to know the people who do come into the home. Basically, they're not required to have any certain skills of care for the elderly. It's mostly just that they're at presence in the home, maybe help with some odds and ends. Is that kind of how it is then? Do I have that one? Yeah, so there's no personal care. There's no medical care. It's not caregiving. It's really, you know, companionship and the types of services. It's really whatever two people kind of agree on, right? So the services are more about helping prepare a meal or helping with the yard work or walking the dog or, you know, those types of things. Yeah, a roommate, a helpful roommate. You know, it's not a roommate that goes, you know, you go your way. They go theirs. You know, it's hopefully more about a friendship and helping each other kind of thing. Well, there's another representative here in the building representative, Marcia Gardner. And her father-in-law and my mother-in-law were college sweethearts. They met at UVM, however many years ago, 75, whatever. But he reconnected with her and he was in a home-shared environment, but he had people in his home. He reconnected with her in their amities. And she actually came and lived in the home with him and these two home-share folks and were able to have six months together before their health fell. But just to share that companionship they had couldn't have happened if it wasn't a home-share environment. And these people were so gracious. They took them on little rides and took them out to eat. That was a little romance going on there. Well, and what's really nice about that, Vicki, is that that story really is what encapsulates the statistic that about half of the home providers that we serve would have been unable to sort of live the life that they wanted to or stay in their home safely, but hadn't been for their home-share. And that's the story, that is the story behind that statistic. That's how I got introduced to home-share and I was just thrilled. And it also gave us this family a lot of peace. So it's extended family touches. And then we didn't have to do all that, you know, so much maintenance in their lives. They were lovely people and cared for them wonderfully. Yeah. And adult children are often, our play a really important role in all of this, is that, you know, there are a number of home providers that come to us because their adult children have said we care about you, we love you, we're worried about you, it would make us feel so much better if we just knew that someone else was around. And that's a real, that's a very strong point of referral for our programs, is having those adult children, those family caregivers bring it to the table as an option. Right. And sometimes the immediate family aren't often as patient. It can be true, there's different dynamics there. Okay, thank you. Appreciate it. Representative Reid. Thank you. So, is this just like individuals have to get in touch with you or do you work with local planning commissions or chambers? I guess I'm saying that in my district it's five towns, small towns. And it's, you know, we have a planning district that's very involved in my housing stuff. And so do you work directly with them or do individuals get in touch with you directly or if I was to take this back and say, you know, I think judging from the map, we have some use of it, but we probably know as much as it could be. And you're in FaceTime? Yes, ma'am. Yeah, so we've actually been at the table at the Mad River Valley Housing Council. Yeah. And so we're on those agenda as we get those overlapping with Josh Schwartz. So home sharing is a strategy that we helped put them, they inserted it into their housing plan as one of the strategies that the Mad River Valley could look at. It happened through the council like talking with Sugarbush about, okay, seasonal employees and what kind of service can we provide. So we actually tried a little pilot in Sugarbush where we actually worked with Green Mountain Transit who bring in seasonal drive, who have seasonal drivers that run up and down the mountain and that need affordable housing. And so we actually worked out a way to kind of expedite the process for various reasons, background checks and stuff that were done by Green Mountain Transit means that we didn't have to do them and sort of do it in partnership. And in the end, it ended up working for one individual in this sort of little, little trial pilot phase. But we are really interested in what are those community partnerships that, who are the right people to connect with that have constituents that might be able to benefit from the program either as home providers or home seekers and can we work collaboratively with them. Another version of that is we're currently in conversation with Vermont College of Fine Arts. So they have grad students that come in, they don't have dorm space for their adult students. And so can we work in partnership from a marketing standpoint with home providers to the table who might like the idea of hosting a grad student through our program which then just opens up a whole new home provider pool. So there is a lot of benefit to working in. So you are working with Josh now? Yeah. The whole economics summit that happened a few years ago, we were part of that as well. It's a long time, but I can't remember a lot. I was part of that too. So was I. There was a lot of people there. That was good. Speaking a long time ago in full disclosure I was the director of Project Home the program that became from 86 to 98 and then Kirby came in and nine minutes really it's taken off in a great way. 20 years? 20 years that you've been close. Yeah. Yeah. It's a great program. I did want to mention that I know you have a bill before you I think on short term rentals Airbnb I would just sort of put my two cents in a little bit there it's not my organization's position it's my personal insights we are seeing people looking at both home sharing and Airbnb which do I want to do they're two different things but we have had some people who might have home shared think about doing Airbnb instead and I think it does have an effect on the housing market we know of people that take in apartments and units off the market and put them into Airbnb and I think I love Airbnb but it does have an effect on the rental housing market and I think it should be regulated to a certain degree. Thank you. You're in the card room today. We'll be on the floor. We have candies. I don't know that we're on the floor. We'll come and watch if you're there and say hello. Thank you. Thanks for having us.