Op-Ed: End Homelessness Vt. shares outrage at data-sharing decision

August 8, 2025  |  By Brenda Siegel

End Homelessness Vermont is both stunned and outraged after learning of the egregious privacy breach executed by the Scott Administration. 

On Monday, August 4, 64,000 low-income Vermonters who rely on food assistance learned that their private information was shared with the Trump Administration. This came on the heels of President Trump signaling his intention to target people living with disabilities at the intersection of unsheltered homelessness through his recent executive order. This information was shared without the knowledge or permission of our clients and others, who have entrusted the Vermont state government to keep their personal data private. This information includes the names, dates of birth, Social Security Numbers and addresses of almost all of our clients. 

This is irreversible and untenable harm. We can not allow things like this to happen in Vermont. This move by the Scott Administration erodes the trust and safety of our fellow Vermonters. 

All of the staff at EHVT have received SNAP benefits at some point in the not-too-distant past, and we are also the authorized representative for hundreds of clients. We do not know if our personal and private data was breached as well in this process. As a woman in the LGBTQ community who is Jewish and lives with disabilities, I do not know where the line was drawn. I do not know if this made my own family unsafe. So many of our clients live with multiple marginalized identities, as I do. Vermonters have a right to know when and how their data was breached. 

It is already a challenging decision for many low-income Vermonters to apply for and accept help, and we fear this will erode their faith in the system, further limiting their access to nutrition and food for their families. 

“As someone who very recently stopped receiving SNAP benefits and was previously in the GA Program, living with disabilities,” said Shelby LeBarron with End Homelessness Vermont. “This act makes it feel to me and our clients like we will only ever be seen in the light of our poverty. It makes it difficult to trust that personal information we give the state will be kept private.” 

This is a moment in history when End Homelessness Vermont expects our state government to go out of its way to protect our clients who live with disabilities from being targeted by the Trump Administration. Instead, our organization is faced with trying to mitigate the harm of a massive, deliberate breach of low-income Vermonters’ privacy. We call on the legislature when they return in January to quickly pass explicit measures protecting Vermonters from this ever happening again. We call on Gov. Scott to halt the sharing of any further information, including specific food purchases made by these households. At EHVT we will continue to seek ways to protect our clients from the harms caused by this action.

A former state lawmaker and Democratic candidate for governor, Brenda Siegel is executive director of End Homelessness Vermont.