Here’s the bottom line and don’t let any legislator or state official tell you any differently:

On June 1, less than three weeks from now, nearly 1000 people currently living in motels statewide will be exited…with nowhere to live but outside in tents, if they are so “lucky.”

And, unless the legislature and/or the Governor pull a magical rabbit out a hat, by July 1 nearly 3000 people will have been thrown out of motels onto the streets.

These will include families with an estimated total of 600 children; hundreds of people in recovery from substance use disorders; countless seniors who are too old to be sleeping in tents and too poor to afford to pay for a motel room; dozens of people with diabetes who need to refrigerate their insulin and/or with respiratory conditions who require electricity to run or recharge their oxygen concentrators; and many people with a range of physical disabilities and/or suffering from a range of mental illnesses.

To claim otherwise (as members of the administration and the Democratic legislative leadership continue to do), is to engage in magical thinking.

What good are more section 8 vouchers, if there aren’t any apartments available for people to use them? There is simply no affordable housing available and such housing will take years to build no matter what new monies have been put in the FY 2024 budget or “obtained” from the federal government by our Congressional delegation.

How is more funding for “supportive services” going to help people who are living outside and struggling just to stay alive? Without a motel room in which to charge their phones and keep their belongings, without the emotional and practical support provided by other motel residents, and often without transportation, many of these folks will be hard-pressed to access even those supportive services they’ve been receiving at the motels, let alone any new ones they might now qualify for.

How will already overworked, stressed-out service providers be able to help this avalanche of newly unsheltered people? Under the current motel program, service providers can contact their clients at the motels where they live, but if their clients are living on the streets or in the woods, how do they even find them? Moreover, people without a legal address may no longer qualify for programs that once kept them going.

How will strapped municipalities cope with this tsunami of unhoused people flooding their streets, living in alleys and under porches, sleeping in their parked cars and trucks, perhaps panhandling or behaving “badly?” How will residents and their children, tourists and other visitors, and downtown merchants and workers feel when confronted by this tragic (and to some) frightening scene? How will the police, EMTs, and other public safety workers manage these situations?

What can you do about this situation, as an individual resident of Montpelier?

Learn and understand as much as you can about what has brought our state to this pass---the second highest rate of homelessness in the nation (after California). (See article links below.)
Contact our state representatives and urge them to sustain the Governor’s almost certain veto of the FY 2024 budget (for other reasons); unless during the scheduled 3-day override session in late June the legislature amends the budget to include adequate funding to continue the motel program until there is sufficient affordable housing for all who seek it. (See contact info below.)
Contact the Governor’s office and the Agency of Human Services and let them know that ending the motel program without providing viable shelter for those who seek it is inhumane and unacceptable in our otherwise compassionate state. (See contact info below.)
Contact the City Manager, Mayor, and your district City Council members and let them know that you appreciate everything they are trying to do to manage the situation, but urge them to put greater pressure on the state government to find a way to retain the motel program until there is sufficient affordable housing for all who seek it. (See contact info below.)
If any legislator, state official, or local official gives you excuses or defends their action/inaction or “explains” to you why this is someone else’s fault, not theirs or claims that they are providing funding for this that or the other thing, let them know in no uncertain terms that:

they will be among those responsible for exiting almost 3000 individuals from the motels
you will hold them accountable at the next election
and they must find a way to continue the motel program until there is sufficient affordable housing for all who seek it.

Contact and offer your support to key allies, especially those who are valiantly working:

to stop the exiting of people from the motels
and/or to find dignified alternative shelter for them
and/or as a last resort (only) to provide them with needed equipment and materials for living outdoors.

(See contact info below.)

A great time and place to begin to do all of the above would be to attend (in person or via Zoom) the May 17 meeting of the Montpelier Homelessness Task Force (MHTF) at 11:30am-1pm, which will be attended by representatives of state and local government as well as several social service organizations.

May 17 Montpelier Homelessness Task Force

11:30 AM-12:30 PM City Council Chambers, City Hall

Zoom Meeting link: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/86287812907?pwd=TERnRXE2VUxqNmZEOXJBY04ydzRzd z09

Meeting ID: 862 8781 2907 Passcode: 190220 One tap mobile: (929)-205-6099

KEY AGENDA ITEMS

Motel Exodus Updates

Update on Legislative Outcomes Update on Regional Efforts

Preparedness Document roles and responsibilities

Also, this just in from Morgan Brown: an *urgent -- all hands on deck -- call* for partnering assistance, support and sponsorship, in terms of administrative, organizational as well as financial, with which to hopefully set up, facilitate and host unhoused peer-led mutual-support survival workshops and clinics across the state in advance of the forthcoming mass evictions of those currently being housed in motels/hotels at the end of this as well as next month. Please response to me directly as soon as is possible should you be interested, able and willing to assist in one way or another in making this project happen. Please feel free to share this entire email of mine as is with others who might be able to do so as well. (morganbrown@gmail.com)

Articles to learn and understand what has actually happened

The latest coverage:

After a Wrenching Debate Over Homelessness, Vermont Legislature Adjourns (7 Days 5/13/23: includes summary of other important bills as well.

Lawmakers approves $8.5B state budget-- and braces for a messy override vote (VTDigger 5/13/23)

For a more critical look, see The Vermont Political Observer:

In Burlington the Theme was “Hope.” in Montpelier the Theme was “Nope.” (The Vermont Political Observer 5/14/23)

Objects In Mirror May Be Larger, Or Smaller, Than They Appear

(The Vermont Political Observer 5/13/23)

This is Not the End. (Updated)

(The Vermont Political Observer 5/13/23)

For some slightly older, but informative coverage by the Times-Argus, VT Digger, Vermont Public (which did not see fit to cover this issue for the past week), and The Bridge (which incredibly hasn’t reported on this issue since April 18):

Local officials, service providers say they are not ready for motel housing program to end (Times-Argus 5/10/23)

Barre council ponders pending homeless crisis (Times-Argus 5/9/23)

Group of legislators threatens to uphold a potential veto if motel program isn’t extended (VTDigger 5/5/23)

Motel Residents Plead with Lawmakers to Extend Emergency Housing Program (Vermont Public 5/3/23)

Advocates Brace for Humanitarian Crisis When Over 2000 Vermonters Lose Emergency Housing (Vermont Public 4/28/23)

Local Orgs Prep for 30% Increase in Homeless Population (The Bridge, 4/18/23)

And finally, a consciousness-raising interview for us all

Vermont Conversation: Who benefits from poverty? Matthew Desmond says many of us do. (VTDigger, 4/28/23)

CONTACT INFORMATION

Legislators:

Rep. Conor Casey CCasey@leg.state.vt.us

Rep. Kate McCann kmccann@leg.state.vt.us