Note: Several hours after this post went live, I got a complaint from someone in Mayor Weinberger’s office that I had mischaracterized his proposal. After multiple text exchanges, I got some additional clarity on his plan. I’ve tried to accurately reflect it with notations to the original post. Newly added text is in bold type.

However, the thrust of the piece is unchanged. Weinberger’s plan would provide for the most at-risk of the unhoused, but not nearly for all of them. Also, it must be said that while Weinberger’s plan would mitigate the worst effects of The Great Unhousing in Chittenden County, I’ve never heard him lobbying for a broader solution. He has not called on the governor or Legislature to restore the voucher program while alternative housing can be brought online. He is one more political leader who’s trying to limit the damage rather than address the whole problem.

Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger has come out with a plan to deal with most of Chittenden County’s share of The Great Unhousing. His proposal is to create a 50-bed shelter and a day shelter with space for 75 in an empty state office building, and extend motel voucher eligibility for 318 people due to be evicted at the end of July until alternative housing can be found for them. 165 households with significant risk factors including families with minor children, adults with disabilities receiving home health and/or hospice services, seniors (60 years+), and pregnant households.

Left off his list: Anyone already evicted on June 1 (almost 200 people in Chittenden County) or about to be evicted on the first of July.

This would include some households that were evicted on June 1 and others due to lose their motel accommodations on July 1 or July 28. But it would far from cover all of those being evicted; the total in Chittenden County, according to Weinberger’s proposal, is 354 households encompassing 512 individuals.

Even so, the estimated price tag for the office building conversion and the extended motel stays is somewhere around $4 million, per VTDigger. The source for that money, if state officials accept Weinberger’s plan? The $12.5 million allocated by the Legislature to make the end of the voucher program slightly less catastrophic.

Perhaps you can see the problem here. If the state says yes, it will have committed one-third of the statewide total for Burlington alone. For a partial solution to Chittenden County’s share of The Great Unhousing.

And according to VTDigger, Weinberger’s is one of 44 proposals submitted to the state on June 1 alone — the first day the state was accepting proposals.

Forty-four.

I’ve only seen details of one other proposal: Barre City’s offer to convert the BOR Ice Arena into a shelter for three months at a cost of $2.9 million.

So the two proposals we know about, from Barre and Burlington, would eat up more than half of all the money available for the entire state.

Funny thing, turns out shelter ain’t cheap.

It’s sure a hell of a lot more expensive than what the Legislature allocated for the purpose. Which, reminder, is in a budget vetoed by Gov. Phil Scott, so even that paltry amount is purely hypothetical.

As if that wasn’t bad enough, consider that the state rushed out a request for proposals at the last minute and will be under tremendous pressure to approve plans and get the money out the door. Sounds like a prescription for inefficiency and inequality.

At best, it’s not going to create any kind of system, but rather a patchwork of shelters here and extensions there and nothing elsewhere.

Well, it won’t create any kind of a system unless the state receives and approves a single-source — *cough*CoreCivic*cough* — proposal.

This $12.5 million has been widely touted by legislative leaders as a workable substitute for extending the voucher program. They have, in fact, roasted the governor for vetoing the budget and delaying this miracle cure for The Great Unhousing. House Speaker Jill Krowinski called on Scott to declare a state of emergency after he vetoed the budget.

It’s now clear that $12.5 million is a drop in the bucket, and not to be taken seriously as a solution for a humanitarian crisis that didn’t need to happen. Even with that money, we’d still be in an emergency situation.

If good sense were to prevail, legislative leaders would see the human toll of the June 1 evictions and the complete inadequacy of their appropriation and change course. Negotiate with the group of budget dissidents on a sensible housing plan. Find the money somewhere in our $8.5 billion budget. Deal with the problem. Do your jobs. Put an end to this farce.