Several state lawmakers awoke on Friday morning to find their houses defaced with messages protesting the end of a state program that provided motel rooms to homeless people. Rep. Martin LaLonde (D-South Burlington) was among those targeted, South Burlington Police Chief Shawn Burke confirmed. “Isn’t it nice to have a home” was scrawled across his garage door, though by mid-morning, the words were only faintly visible. Roughly 800 people left motel rooms across the state on Thursday when funding for a pandemic-era relief program expired. Another 2,000 people will lose their rooms later this summer, at a time when affordable housing is in extremely short supply and other shelters are full. [content-1] House Speaker Jill Krowinski (D-Burlington) described the incidents in an email to lawmakers as an “alarming breach of security.” “I want to express my sympathies to the members and their families who were targeted and extend my support,” she wrote. “Our shared commitment to public service should never be overshadowed by fear or intimidation.” At least two lawmakers were targeted, according to Krowinski’s office. Her chief of staff, Conor Kennedy, directed further questions to Capitol Police, who declined to provide information because the department is not working the criminal case. A spokesperson for the Burlington Police Department confirmed that officers are investigating a report of politically motivated graffiti. Public information officer Sarah Hernandez Timm declined to provide the location of the reported vandalism or its apparent target. Burke said the damage to LaLonde’s garage is being investigated as unlawful mischief, which could be prosecuted as a misdemeanor or felony depending on the cost of the damage. Officers canvased the neighborhood for video and other evidence, he said. LaLonde did not return a call for comment on Friday afternoon. [content-3] The $180 million motel program has fueled a political firestorm. Gov. Phil Scott moved to end it, and most lawmakers agreed that the program, set up quickly during the pandemic shutdown, should end. But it remains at the center of an ongoing tussle over the state budget, which Scott recently vetoed. Some Progressives and liberal Democrats in the Statehouse have said they may try to block efforts to override Scott’s veto unless funding for the motel program is restored…