2,300 Vermonters to become homeless July 1st
2023-05-02
Dear friend,
Thank you to those who wrote in with questions and thoughts in response to Sunday's email, Bills in the shop.
Because you're so thoughtful and compassionate (not to mention you have a great sense of humor!), I have a question for you.
Do you have any thoughts on the impending end of Vermont's COVID-era emergency housing program?
Both the Governor and the Democratically led Legislature have agreed that without federal funding, Vermont's budget cannot sustain the "motel voucher" program.
Your Windham-6 Rep voted for a budget that will provide shelter for only some 150 households a month. That's a hard stop to a program that currently houses 1,800 households, or about 2,500 people.
The Senate budget kept that funding unchanged. While Gov. Scott has differences with the Legislature on the budget, this doesn't look like one of them. Scott's FY24 budget is 8% higher than last year's, and the Legislature's version is 13% higher. Finding funding without major cuts elsewhere, or pushing up spending, likely isn't going to happen.
That means that as of July 1st, about 2,300 Vermonters, many of them children, will have to find and pay for housing.
The Legislature isn't sitting on its hands. We've increased investments in mental health. We put $188 million for affordable housing and assistance programs.
In my view, Vermont's limitless compassion toward those struggling to find housing isn't supported by limitless ability to raise and spend revenue. More Vermonters will be better served in the long-run by investing in housing infrastructure. We will never pass a law or a budget that meets every need. We have to make hard choices.
But with the Legislature working to reconcile differences between the House and Senate versions of the budget and the deadline looming, housing advocates are asking for some way to extend the "homeless hotel" program.
It would be very late to do anything for this program, but this moment gives me pause.
What are your thoughts or observations about the impending end of such a significant program?
If you want to do a deeper dive, here's some reading:
‘On their hands’: About to lose shelter, a mother urges officials to reconsider winding down motel program (VT Digger)
Bobby Starr [Reportedly] Goes Off the Deep End (VT Political Observer)
Housing bill would bar towns from limiting emergency hotel housing (Vermont Daily Chronicle)
Advocates brace for humanitarian crisis when over 2,000 Vermonters lose emergency housing (Vermont Public - 5:56)
Want to dive really deep? Here's more on the FY24 budget:
--Highlights of FY24 budget Prepared by the State of Vermont Legislative Joint Fiscal Office
This is just one example of an important policy topic in the budget. What else is on your mind?
Thanks for reading. I appreciate your questions and thoughts on this and other topics.