by Brenda Siegel, of End Homelessness VT
Providers and organizations came together Wednesday morning on behalf of hundreds of individuals and families who would be exited from shelter on Tuesday April 1st. This coalition urges legislators to extend shelter for those currently accessing the GA (General Assistance) emergency shelter program through the fiscal year while the state develops long-term solutions this legislative session.
The Scott administration’s veto of the Budget Adjustment Act would remove hundreds of Vermonters from emergency shelter at the end of this month, worsening our statewide housing crisis and needlessly placing the lives of some of our most vulnerable community members at risk.
We are dismayed that the Governor is once again refusing to keep people sheltered, even when it will cost absolutely no additional money to our state. It is extremely disappointing to hear that the Governor is going to put the lives of vulnerable people at risk.
We urge the Governor to reconsider his position and put people above politics.
“Organizations alone cannot hold the responsibility of addressing statewide issues We don’t have the funds or capacity to meet this level of crisis again. This past fall took a significant toll on our staff, who suffered moral injury as we carried out the cruelty of a policy that no provider agrees with. We saw the cruelty of people freezing, dying, suffering, being attacked, being given nothing and with nowhere to go.” Said Brenda Siegel, Executive Director of End Homelessness Vermont
“The urgency of this extension cannot be overstated,” said Frank Knaack, executive director of the Housing and Homelessness Alliance of Vermont. “Without the extension, 588 vulnerable adults and 161 children will lose access to shelter through the GA Program in less than two weeks. And, there will be no safe place for them to go, as Vermont’s shelter system is already full. The facts are clear and unconscionable. We urge the Governor to support this.”
At a time when the federal government is making sweeping cuts to services, health care and housing that all support vulnerable Vermonters, it is critical that our state keep in place essential tools that will be our only backstop to these cuts. We must truly protect our most vulnerable Vermonters. We ask people are not needlessly forced onto the street with nowhere to go.
‘When we un-shelter survivors that are fleeing domestic or sexual violence, we leave them with the false choice of becoming unsheltered or return to unsafe housing situations” said Kara Casey, Director of Economic Empowerment at the Vermont Network
“Access to safe housing for pregnant and parenting individuals should be non-negotiable” Jessica Barquist, Vice President of Public Affairs, Planned Parenthood Vermont Action Fund
The fact is, the costs of unsheltering people is enormous for our communities. People experiencing unsheltered homelessness often experience health impacts that land them in emergency rooms. The average cost for an ER visit in Vermont is $1,386/ night pre-covid, it would be more today. The cost of a hotel room is $80/night. Using a conservative estimate over the next 91 days, our communities would incur $5.9 million dollars in costs if people are unsheltered on April 1st. This bill keeps this same number of people sheltered for those same 91 days for $1.8 million. That means that we will spend $4.1 million more to unshelter people rather than keep them safe. We rarely have an opportunity to take the most fiscally responsible approach, while also preventing mass suffering and harm.
Vermont has the least available affordable homes in New England, while also having the highest number of people in need of affordable homes. We have the highest rate of homelessness in New England and the least available shelter beds.
“Cutting the Emergency Housing Program now isn’t just morally wrong—it’s fiscally shortsighted. The long-term costs of increased homelessness—in healthcare, social services, education, public safety, and human potential—far outweigh any short-term budget savings,” said Maryellen Griffin, Staff Attorney Vermont Legal Aid. “Vermonters will be paying for this administration’s short-sighted choice for years to come.”
Throughout the end of winter and the spring more than 1000 people will run out of their 80 days.
“This strategy is deeply troubling to the ACLU of Vermont on several fronts. Not only does it deny stability, safety, and humanity to hundreds of Vermonters already deemed to be some of our most vulnerable neighbors”, said Alex Karambelas, Policy Advocate ACLU Vermont, “but it also comes with an immense cost and administrative impossibility to communities already reaching a breaking point in our homelessness crisis.”
The people in this program are already Vermont’s most vulnerable. This will include children, people with disabilities and complex medical needs. It will include people who lost homes in a flood or a fire. It will include people with significant mental illness and our aging Vermonters.
“I want to be clear about what the Governor’s veto of the budget adjustment act will do. Without an override – children will be unsheltered,” said Amy Rose of Voices For Vermont’s Children, “Parents will be unsheltered. Aunts, Uncles, and Grandparents will be unsheltered.”
This adjustment to our fiscal budget is critical to address this crisis. We look forward to working with the Governor to address the long-term goals of ending our housing crisis in Vermont, while also keeping all Vermonters safe and sheltered.
We are dangerously close to repeating the harm caused last fall. From September through December, our fellow Vermonters suffered multiple catastrophic outcomes, including preventable deaths. We can never allow what happened to our fellow Vermonters, our neighbors and community members this past September to happen again.