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Homeless advocate denies assertion
By Guy Page
A total of 135 clients of the state’s hotel motel program for the homeless have died since its inception, Vermont Human Services Agency Secretary Jenney Samuelson said today.
The rate of deaths among homeless people is higher among hotel/motel program clients than the general homeless population, she claimed.
Samuelson said some critics of the administration plan to downsize the General Assistance (GA) program may ask, “If it puts a roof over their heads, how can it be a failure?” Yet while living in state-paid hotel/motel housing, 45 have died due to poisoning, mostly drug overdoses. There have been two homicides. Many others have died with health conditions that may have been preventable elsewhere, she said.
“If we saw this many deaths in any other program, there would be a desire for change,” Samuelson said. She said the rate of death is far higher among homeless housed in the hotel/motel program than those not in it.
After the press conference, homeless hotel/motel advocate Brenda Siegel disputed Samuelson’s conclusions.
“Unfortunately science does not work like that,” Siegel said. “One has to have hard facts. The administration would have to know the exact number of deaths and why and then compare that to people who are housed or in alternative shelter. it is not correct to say ‘well I don’t have the facts, but this is true.’
“The facts are that on April 1 extremely vulnerable people, in wheelchairs, on oxygen, with significant mental illness, who just had or need surgery, people with dementia and aging Vermonters will be exited to the street. No messaging changes what this reality will do to our communities, homelessness service providers and most importantly people experiencing homelessness.
‘Some of the people exited will certainly die as a result. Keeping a roof over their head is more fiscally responsible, safer for households and better for our communities. Keeping people sheltered costs not a dime extra, un-sheltering them will be very expensive. “
The AHS chief noted that public safety issues often arise on the homeless hotel/motel premises. Clients report how difficult it is to maintain their sobriety. Some people opt to stay in prison because even prison is better – for them – than the less structured hotel-motel system, she said.
Samuelson reported this data at Gov. Phil Scott’s weekly press conference, at which administration officials argued that the Legislature’s insistence on extending the homeless hotel program through June – the sticking point in the unresolved Budget Adjustment Act – is misguided.
Vermont is the only state to continue to offer a homeless hotel program at this scale, Scott said. The governor’s counter-proposal to the Legislature would provide access to the hotel/motel rooms for the neediest current clients. “That offer is still on the table,” Scott said. Right now, the State of Vermont spends $40-50 million per year on the GA program “and doesn’t very well serve the people in it,” Scott said.
The GA program is “failing the people it is designed to protect,” Samuelson said. “It’s a temporary patch on a gaping wound.”
VDC asked Scott whether a temporary patch is better than no patch at all – what’s the alternative for the people now in the program?
“Weve been hearing the same dialogue for years,” Scott said. “The well is running dry. We’re seeing all the impacts [of federal funding cuts]. We don’t know what they are going to be. We have to prioritize.”
As an alternative, Scott said the state is expanding access to other shelters, including family shelters. “We need to have eyes on them,” to provide the services they need.
Providing more detail, Samuelson said the State of Vermont must “clear a path for affordable housing: recovery housing, transitional housing, family housing, more emergency shelters.
That work is ongoing, Samuelson said. More than 100 shelter beds have been added. Williston and Waterbury shelters have been extended. The state has also extended and expanded medical respite. These programs offer more than a roof over clients’ heads, they address other real needs, she said.
Longterm, Vermont needs to build more housing, officials said.
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Categories: Housing
How about this, we housed this past winter by next fall you should have a job, even if its flipping burgers at burger king!
It’s not complicated. The privacy afforded by a motel room as opposed to a communal shelter with some level of supervision has been a contributing factor for overdose deaths. In a communal situation, if someone is having a health emergency of any kind, there will be someone around to notice and procure appropriate help. We can accept the notion that “shelter” is a human right, but months-long stays in a motel is way over the top of what most taxpayers think is appropriate to provide to someone claiming to not have any place to go. The program runs on the honor system. You can’t really prove that you are “homeless” or dont have any other alternatives than the privacy and luxury of a motel room, even if it is in one of the identifiable flophouse motels with the barbecue grill and the half a bicycle chained to the post outside the rooms. All due respect for the compassion and empathy offered by advocates such as Brenda Siegel, but they need to look at the numbers.
Remember last time the Democrats had us “follow the science?” We ended up in a pandemic of lies.
If you think that putting people up in a hotel changes either addition, mental illness or behavior patterns, think again. It serves only to warehouse people out of sight, groups these issues together and enable behavior which does not help them resolve their issues.
Are there people and families which need this assistance? Yes. Are there people which have scammed the largesse of Vermont ? Yes. More screening on a number of ,revels needs to be conducted to assure those most in need receive and those determined to abuse are set in a different path.
Right now Vermont has created a seasonal turnstile perpetuating an endless stream it finds difficult to end.
No mention of the body count of people who have died outside of the voucher program – many discarded like trash by the side of the road, in the woods, eliminated in their own homes, in a tent, in their vehicles, either by their own hands or by another’s.
There will never be a confession or admittance said policies or programs are a disasterous failure. Pay no mind to the lives destroyed or eliminated each passing day. For them, it signifies the plan to depopulate, transfer wealth, and reset the rigged game is successful by design. Do not be deceived. The blood on their hands is of no concern or worry to them – they believe they are insolated and beyond reproach. They will continue to pretend they care, the results prove otherwise.
If, as Brenda Siegel says, we need hard facts, then let’s ask every participant in our homeless programs where they have lived for, say, the last two years. Then we will know whether people are coming to Vermont because of the generosity of our programs. But we deliberately don’t collect that information, so in our blissful ignorance, people like Ms. Siegel can deny that people are coming here for our handouts.
Did you see the article in the Seven Days last week about the couple who moved up here from FL for a place to stay? After that ran out, the couple moved to Europe because they heard about the hand outs there. After “traveling” for 6 months, they returned to Burlington and were disappointed that they didn’t have a government run free place to stay. Instead, they found acceptance and community…they don’t just come here for the handouts.
https://www.sevendaysvt.com/news/ana-winn-and-tony-pickard-a-homeless-couple-moved-to-burlington-for-the-states-social-services-they-didnt-find-a-house-but-turned-the-cit-43014776
If you read the article, they never made it to Europe, they spent the money on a month-long trip up and down the east coast, perhaps a justified honeymoon. Sad story, no doubt, nice to see my fellow Methodists so welcoming. They came back for the benefits. They initially came for the benefits. Wonderful story about love and getting off of drugs, may more people experience this.
Sadly, we are offered dumb and dumber solutions, along with the ever most expensive solutions possible to mankind. There are many choices between monetarily ignorant, boarding on criminal and no compassion for fellow man. But alas these are the ONLY two choices given, fighting continues and the only people benefiting are the grifters making money off this program.
We need to be smarter; we need to be wiser than snakes and more innocent than doves.
What was the cause of death ??, Drug over dose ??, let’s see the data !!!
Most of the liberal leftist Dem Swamp Rats 🐀 🐀 Are beyond disgusting human beings to say the least period !!