There is no plan to house the homeless

BY BETH ANN MAIER

Vermonters, we have a housing emergency, and it will reach crisis proportions this summer.

If that sounds alarmist, it only hints at how alarming it will be for Vermonters experiencing homelessness and the cities, towns and villages of Vermont that will need to respond to people without shelter in their communities.

Despite all the talk about housing being everyone’s number one priority, the only plan offered for the coming year, is a massive unhousing of those currently in hotel-based shelter. This program has been funded with federal Covid emergency dollars, which are due to run out this spring. The Budget Adjustment Act is set to extend the funding through May with surplus state funding, but come July, funds to shelter those without housing will need to come from the Fiscal Year 2024 budget.

The State of Vermont has been spending $6-7 million a month to provide hotel housing for 1,800 households (2,800 individuals) as of January. Among them are 600 children. The Vermont Legislature and the Gov. Scott Administration are on track to allocate less than half that amount in their current budget plans for the upcoming fiscal year, which starts in July.

For three years, we have paid hotel owners tourist room rates, and the owners have not been held accountable for even a minimum of health, safety, security and facility maintenance. We have had three years to form a plan that is smarter, that allows people to move forward, a plan that doesn’t continue to throw good money after bad. It is an outrage that, after three years, our only plan is to turn people out on the street. We know what that looks like.

At my church in Montpelier, there are 10-12 people sleeping on cots, crammed into our 30-by-40foot parish hall because there is no other shelter space available. They leave in the morning with an agenda that includes finding bathrooms, finding food, finding warmth and

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Burlington Area Newspaper Group then, maybe, search for housing and a job if they have any time and energy left. Come April 15, they will be in tents in the woods.

With the proposed state budget, it will look like this in every community of the state. The communities will absorb the increased costs of public safety, emergency medical systems, public health resources and sanitation at a time that staffing of those services is already severely strained in our municipalities.

We have a housing emergency, and we, the citizens of Vermont, are to blame.

We knowingly under-invested in our housing stock for the last 30 years, leaving us with a need for 40,000 units. We knowingly have underfunded the community mental health and supportive housing resources that care for the disabled and the elderly. We knowingly exit people from our correctional facilities without the evidenced-based support that will allow a successful transition. We knowingly have not increased the minimum wage to a level that would allow working families to meet their basic needs of food, warmth and housing, much less childcare.

Many of our neighbors sheltering in the hotels are elderly or have significant disabilities; struggle with mental health and substance use challenges; are working families with low-incomes; left substandard housing for health and safety reasons; or were recently released from corrections. There is a large and growing body of research showing that it is less expensive to provide supportive housing than leaving people unsheltered, and that people carrying all of these challenges can be successfully and permanently housed when their housing is paired with adequate support.

Hotel-based shelter has been very expensive and not uniformly safe or healthy, but turning half of the people in hotel housing out into the street is unacceptable. And it won’t save money. Over 1,000 of our neighbors will experience the very real trauma, lack of safety and deprivation that comes from living without any shelter.

When Gov. Scott was questioned on March 14 about his plan for sheltering those in hotels, he did not offer a plan. Instead, he responded that the administration is sending staff out to talk with those see MAIER page 8

Glaser plan is a good fit for Williston

The Town of Williston’s zoning bylaws provide for the possible exception, or “Specific Plan,” to rules governing development provided there is a “substantial benefit” to the town. Formed through the Planning Commission, the Glaser Specific Plan Advisory Committee is charged with evaluating whether the Glaser’s proposal to protect the view corridor, wetlands and working landscape on their property meet the definition of substantial benefit.

The committee’s March 9 and 16 meetings revealed that this development plan is a good fit, based on the substantial benefit requirements, and would have minimal impact on the rate of housing construction in Williston.

Here’s why.

Currently, this specific plan proposes erecting 18 dwelling units per year over six years (108 units total) in exchange for protecting the neighborhood treasure and iconic view of Camel’s Hump along Mountain View Drive and preserving a portion of the property as open space.

An analysis of the construction results of the town’s growth management system across fiscal years 2016-2023 revealed that 142 dwelling units provided by the system were not utilized. This is more than the 108 units proposed in the Glaser’s Specific Plan. Furthermore, this develop -

Letters To The Editor

ment plan helps the town meet the current and future needs of housing in Williston as shown in a recent housing needs assessment prepared by the town in partnership with the Chittenden County Regional Planning Commission and Vermont Housing Finance Agency. This important analysis shows how the future vitality of Williston is tied to more housing over the next 10 years.

This Glaser Specific Plan proposal provides an opportunity to build appropriate housing sooner, protect a beautiful view of Camel’s Hump and preserve open space.

Who knows what would happen to this land if this proposal is not approved? However, these meetings have revealed that, without this specific plan, the towns’ growth management plan provides for the possible construction of nearly twice as many homes on the same property.

What’ll it be? Rooftops or mountaintops on Mountain View Road?

Tim Carney Williston

Williston School meals for all

As a concerned citizen and advocate for the well-being of our children, I am writing to express my strong support for making Universal School Meals a permanent program in Vermont. This initiative would ensure that all students, regardless of their income, have access to nutritious meals while at school.

It is well-established that good nutrition is critical for children’s physical and mental health, as well as their academic performance. Unfortunately, many children in Vermont go without regular, healthy meals due to financial constraints on their families. This can have long-term consequences for their health, education and overall well-being.

Universal School Meals help to address this problem by providing all students with healthy, filling meals at school. This would also help to reduce the stigma that some children experience when they must rely on free or reduced-priced meals, as everyone would have equal access to the same quality meals. In addition to the health and social benefits, Universal School Meals provide economic benefits for Vermont. By offering meals to all students, schools are able to reduce administrative costs associated with processing and verifying meal applications. This could help free up resources that could be used to improve see LETTERS page 8

Maier

continued from page 6 in the hotels to determine where they might be able to go. The Agency of Human Services had already interviewed those living in the hotels this past fall to determine their needs. Most responded that they needed financial assistance with rent and access to someone who can help them secure rental housing.

Even assuming that rental units are available — which they are not — funding the requested supports for the number of people due to exit the hotels does not appear in the proposed state budget. There is no pathway for them to achieve housing and literally nowhere for them to go. It is magical thinking to assume otherwise.

We need leadership and innovative alternatives to the use of private hotel properties for shelter. We need state government to take ownership of this crisis, create these alternatives and get them staffed. We need to add funding in the budget to make it happen.

At this late date in the budget process, we are seeing none of this. Shame on us.

Please contact your representatives and senators today, as well as the governor, to urge them to adequately fund emergency shelter with supports in the Fiscal Year ‘24 budget so that 1,000 of our neighbors are not out on the street.

Beth Ann Maier is a retired pediatrician, an ordained deacon in the Episcopal Church and a volunteer with Vermont Interfaith Action. As a volunteer, she has helped manage shelters in Montpelier and visited people sheltering in local hotels.

Letters

continued from page 7 other aspects of the school experience.

In conclusion, I urge our elected officials to continue supporting the implementation of Universal School Meals in Vermont. It is an investment in our children’s health and future, one step toward creating a more equitable and just society.

Malarie McGalliard Williston

News and views

Thank you to the Observer for reporting Williston issues of concern to residents.

I worked for decades for a large municipal government in Oregon. I have a hard time sometimes understanding the work of a small town system.

The “Hotel headaches” headline (March 30) does not seem apt. The mess at the site affects anyone shopping on that block and trying to do business there. I would hope the fire marshal has tools to enforce occupancy codes and storage violations in electrical areas — that the pressure on violators is strong and ongoing.

Any impediment to the delivery of mail (and everyone in this town knows what a serious prob - lem this has been for some time) should be addressed proactively and immediately. That includes requiring adequate drainage from the construction site.

As for the morphing of the Glaser project (March 30), more homes appears to be the bottom line. As for the March 30 advisory committee meeting on this issue — I didn’t get the Observer until the 31st due to the mess with post office delivery.

Tricia Knoll Williston

No limit to government spending

I would like to acknowledge the regular updates from our Williston representatives and senators (Notes from the Legislature, March 30). Thank you.

Reading these updates would lead one to believe that Williston is being well served and everything is going very smoothly. However, I’m seeing much to be concerned about, especially concerning our financial wellbeing.

All the major bills come with huge new expenses. They are carefully yet complexly worded to confuse and distort the real effects on many of us. These bills have a profoundly negative impact on low- and middle-income residents. This is not okay.

Our representatives voted for the cynically named Affordable Heat Act, which carries as-yet undetermined massive expenses.

Universally free school meals will allow financially able parents a free ride because taxpayers can pick up the tab. The paid family leave bill replaces an existing tax-neutral, third party-managed, voluntary program. The new bill creates a government department with 60 new employees, charges payroll tax on employees and employers and is significantly underfunded.

Motor vehicle fees will be raised by about $20 million dollars to provide a slush fund for future projects that are not asked for by the Department of Motor Vehicles.

Did you get a 12 percent raise this year? That’s what the $8.5 billion budget amounts to. Vermont’s tax burden is already the nation’s fourth highest and our economic outlook is the 47th worst.

What about the Let’s Grow Kids bill, another mega-million-dollar bill paid on the backs of low- and middle-income residents.

All of these bills have a basis of need and desirability, but Vermonters cannot be treated as a bottomless bank. We can’t afford it. What is the limit?

John Marcotte Williston