The city of Rutland is home to a number of, shall we say, budget accommodations. That’s why Rutland has more motel voucher clients than any other Vermont community… and why it has a big problem on its hands with the end of the voucher program.

According to state data cited by VTDigger, nearly 500 households in the voucher program were located in Rutland. Roughly 200 were evicted on June 1; the remainder will be on the streets as of July 1 or July 29. It’s not too great a surprise, then, that part of the city’s plan for dealing with the outflux is to encourage the newly unhoused to leave town. This is part three of the city’s four-part plan for the June 1 cohort, but the same ideas will be in place for future evictees:

Yep, the answer is to ship ’em out of town. This is nothing new; communities across the country have actively sought to export their unhoused. And I understand Rutland’s position; the state took advantage of its cheap lodging supply and isn’t offering any help in dealing with the consequences. But still. This is not going to help people, it’s just going to shuffle them around.

Rutland’s emphasis on transportation is more overt than most local responses to our self-imposed humanitarian crisis, but the general attitude of the Scott administration and legislative leadership is to hope things don’t get too desperately awful, at least not in ways that would inconvenience The Good People of Vermont in any way. The state’s handling of the situation is very much the equivalent of handing out bus tickets: Please disappear from our sight. Don’t camp in our parks or squat in our downtowns. To borrow a word from the city of Barre’s actual policy on camping, whatever you do, do it “discreetly.”

The three other parts of the Rutland plan are light on detail and heavy on squid-ink blasts of bureaucratic verbiage meant to obscure the lack of substance. The first is “Assessment and Planning,” which, c’mon, it’s awfully late to be starting on that. Of course, the state should have been doing that instead of embarking on desperation ad-hoc approaches and offloading the burden onto municipalities.

The second part is “Housing Search and Placement,” which again sounds like the state’s responsibility: assembling a team of case managers and housing specialists, scouring the housing market for potential spaces, and utilizing “existing funds” for rental assistance. As with the transportation part of the plan, there’s no new money for any help, just “existing funds.”

Part three you see above. Part four, “Community Integration,” is a catchall for any kind of help, guidance or advice that anyone might be able to provide. “Connect individuals with local support networks,” “Encourage participation in community programs,” and “facilitate access to employment opportunities.”

This is certain to help some people. A lot of good organizations are going to do their level best. But it’s not a program. There’s nothing concrete on offer. It’s doing what they can within the parameters of existing resources.

Or, you know, a bus ticket out of town.

The centerpiece of Rutland’s effort is what could unkindly be called a Homelessness Fun Fair but is officially called “Resource Days” this Wednesday and Thursday at the always available State Fairgrounds. Food and transportation will be provided, which is sure to goose turnout.

Per VTDigger, about 25 organizations have signed on to take part. It’s a noble effort with seemingly everybody on board, motivated by the scale of the disaster staring them in the face. And yes, some people will be helped. And no, it’s not a program. It is, to continue the analogy from my previous post, a MASH unit doing triage. And the resources they can offer will in no way address the scope of the situation.

After that, the city has prepared what it calls Phase 3, to deal with the mass unhousing that will unfurl in July. The topline is “Replicate Phase 1 Strategies” as described above, followed by a bunch of empty, aspirational statements that might have been workshopped at an all-hands corporate retreat. It’s well-intentioned, but it’s empty.

Other communities have stronger plans, but they all depend on getting a share of that $12.5 million in prospective state assistance for dealing with The Great Unhousing. None of our cities or towns have the resources to deal with what’s happening. None. These are the consequences of the Scott administration’s failure to plan or prepare and the Legislature’s willingness to end the voucher program without planning or preparation.

The emptiness of Rutland’s plan might help convince the unhoused to accept a discounted bus ticket and get out of Dodge. That will mitigate Rutland’s problem by spreading the misery elsewhere. It won’t eliminate the misery. Only the state can do that.