By Michael Bielawski

Multiple callers to the WVMT Morning Drive radio show last Thursday expressed frustrations regarding the cost-of-living burden, increased homelessness, and drug use. 

One caller disputed a Democrat lawmaker’s assertion that Vermont isn’t attractive to out-of-state people looking to take advantage of Vermont’s generous public offerings.

The guest was Rep. Doug Bishop, D-Colchester, who serves on the House and Human Services Committee. He focused on the cost-of-living and homelessness issues. The hosts are former US Navy veteran Dan Feliciano and businessman Anthony Neri.

The conversation turned to public benefits, and Bishop asserted that there is no apparent evidence suggesting that homeless people are specifically seeking to come to Vermont for its offerings.

“With respect to folks coming to Vermont for the services, in fact, we had a few people testify who addressed this who worked with different states all across the country on homelessness,” he said. “And their testimony was that every state they’ve ever worked in believes that they have an influx of people because they have services that are better than they are in other states.”

He also said, “There’s not a lot of great data on that particular question.” He added that current estimates are that about 3% of homeless persons are from out of state.

Later in the interview, a woman called in on the phone.

“Back to the topic of attracting people from out of state or other places,” she said. “I have an anecdotal story. My family and I did foster care for ten years, a few years back, and our last foster child was a child whose mother was trafficking drugs between Vermont and Philadelphia.”

She said that she had discussions with her about why she chose Vermont.

“She told me that she was not able to get Section 8 housing in Philadelphia, but she could very easily get it here in Vermont.”

She also talked about how drug dealers from Philadelphia saw potential for new sales in the Green Mountain state.

“She said it was very easy to get it here, and there were lots of support services here that she was able to take advantage of that she couldn’t get in Philadelphia,” she said. “She also told me that the drug dealers in her area of Philadelphia saw Vermont as very ripe, fertile ground for drugs. So it was very shocking for me to hear that kind of information.”

Back in June, VDC reported that Vermont no longer requires tax ID numbers for multiple benefits.

The show can be listened to here.

Bishop supports safe injection site

A call asked if Bishop voted for the safe injection sites in Burlington. Bishop said that while he wasn’t around when the program was started, he did vote to allow some state funds to allow it to continue.

“I have to say that I think our problem is serious enough that we need to be willing to try things that make us a little bit uncomfortable,” Bishop said. “… It’s proven itself to a degree elsewhere that this problem is serious enough that, on a limited basis as we are doing here with this one center, I think it’s worth a try.”

Others upset with economy and homelessness

The calls kept coming in every few minutes, mostly from unhappy citizens. Tom from Burlington was another disgruntled caller. He focused on spending and the cost of living.

“And they’re [Democrats and Progressives] all in for all these social programs and for instituting more social programs. I feel their goal is if you are a taxpayer and you can stand on your own two feet without government assistance, you have too much money and shell it out to people that don’t have it,” he said.

Another caller talked about homelessness and the need for facilities to help them.

“You guys were talking about the homeless and the problems that Vermont has, a lot of them have, I’ll call it special needs for this topic,” he said. “But years ago, we cured mental health in Vermont by just closing the facilities down and not reopening them. And for some reason, we are supposed to assume that we don’t have an issue with people who have some challenges. So maybe the state should realize that we still have a need for facilities like that and step up a little bit.”

A caller reminded that new social programs for the homeless are going to need taxpayers to foot the bill.

“If you people don’t start giving a little more concern to people like me that are choking on our tax bills, choking on the highest health insurance costs in the country, the highest everything, you’re not going to have anybody left to pay for all the free housing you want to build for the homeless.”

And another caller felt that money from the existing budget is being wasted.

“You guys spend all of our tax dollars on these green initiatives and force us with heat pumps and electric cars, and Anthony has been beating that drum for years about mental health, and you guys are actually doing nothing about it. Crazy!”

Currently, over $200 million of the annual state budget is spent on alternative energy initiatives.

Michael Bielawski is a freelance news writer who has covered the Vermont Statehouse for about 11 years.