Monthly Archives: June 2023

With Every Passing Day, Vermont’s Disgrace Gets Worse

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Day Two of The Great Unhousing passed with far less fanfare than Day One, but the human toll was just as high and the consequences just as shameful. Our area of central Vermont was hit by a tremendous rainstorm yesterday afternoon, and I had to wonder how many of the newly-unhoused were being thoroughly soaked and their possessions destroyed by the downpour. Too bad the state’s “Adverse Weather Policy” is only designed to minimize the number of people who actually freeze to death. Dangerous heat and severe storms? Eh, that’s okay, I guess.

(The image above is taken from a video posted on Twitter by Brenda Siegel. I used a screenshot where the person’s face is obscured because I want to be illustrative without being exploitive. We do need to be reminded of the humanity behind the statistics and the policy debates without reducing our fellow Vermonters to political props. I appreciate Siegel continuing to bear witness; somebody’s got to.)

There was little media coverage on Day Two because there wasn’t anything “new,” just another day of unnecessary misery. Just another day when people who were living on the edge come closer to falling over. Just another day when the bland professions of our political class ring hollow. Heck, the only thing that’s got them hot and bothered is a bit of vandalism on their doorsteps.

At this moment I have a hard time ginning up any outrage on their behalf. We’d all like to feel secure in our homes, and I understand that. It’s just that some people don’t have homes at all, and our leaders played an active role in making that happen.

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It’s Impossible, Except That It’s Not

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Now that a judge has tossed a spear into the chest of those who hoped to prevent The Great Unhousing, the next political step will be the upcoming veto override session in the Legislature, scheduled for June 20-22. The House and Senate will be trying, among other things, to override Gov. Phil Scott’s veto of the FY2024 budget.

They should have a comfortable margin of victory, but 17 Democratic/Progressive lawmakers have promised to vote against override of any budget that doesn’t extend the motel voucher program and build an offramp to better housing solutions. This week, I’ve had two conversations that shed contradictory light on the pending budget debate: One cast doubt on the very idea of reopening the budget, while the other basically called bullshit on the first.

Scenario number one. The budget override attempt will be an up-or-down vote on the budget as adopted by the House and Senate. No changes allowed. That wouldn’t prevent leadership from negotiating with the 17 between now and then, but they couldn’t amend the budget before the vote. The best they could do is craft a Plan B to expedite the process after an override failure.

Now, let’s assume the override fails. At that point, the power swings to Gov. Phil Scott. Counterintuitive, but here’s why.

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Day One: Not as Immediately Disastrous as Feared, But Needlessly Chaotic and Destructive

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I won’t try to convince you that I hate to say “I told you so,” but it’s true that I hate to have to tell you I told you so. Way back on March 26, when legislative leaders were assuring us that the end of the motel voucher program was being prepared for, that there’s no way we’d actually leave thousands of Vermonters without shelter, I wrote this:

When we see pictures of mass evictions, stories about struggling Vermonters suddenly tossed into the void, and coverage of human service providers despairing at the chasm between demand and supply, the Democrats will not be able to shirk responsibility for it.

Well, today was Day One of The Great Unhousing, and our print and broadcast media are full of stories about people having nowhere to go and pictures of desolate evictees surrounded by their possessions. VTDigger: a distraught young woman sits on a curb with hastily-packed items in bags on the pavement and no idea where she’s going. The Bennington Banner: an older woman loads her belongings into her car, where she’s planning to sleep into the indefinite future. WCAX: a young man says he’s “probably [sleeping] in the street.” Channel 22/44: A young mother says “we don’t know what’s next” and “it’s terrifying.” WPTZ: A middle-aged man talks of “reaching out to friends, seeing if anyone has a room available.” The Rutland Herald: Small towns in Rutland County struggle to prepare for a possible influx of the unhoused. Vermont Public: an outreach worker in Burlington describes a demand for tents, cooking supplies, and other necessities of outdoor living.

Oh, and also on Vermont Public: vaunted nice guy Gov. Phil Scott talks of how “some choose to maybe set up a tent somewhere.”

“Choose.” As if they were given a choice. Good God.

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“The Court Is Not Persuaded”

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Nice try, Vermont Legal Aid, but the judge tossed you out of court. And in a nice little development, essentially blamed legislative Democrats for enabling the abrupt end of the motel voucher program. On we go with the unhousing!

Judge Timothy Tomasi rejected VLA’s request for an injunction halting the evictions scheduled to begin today (under a nice hot 90-degree sun). He saw little chance that VLA would succeed in its case, hence there were no grounds to stop the process pending a full hearing in court. This, despite the fact that Tomasi’s decision included the sentence: “The Court agrees that removing persons from their rightful homes and subjecting them to homelessness is an irreparable harm.”

Mighty white of him to notice, but gosh darn it, their particular “irreparable harm” doesn’t have a judicial remedy according to Tomasi.

I had a feeling the judge would find a way around Legal Aid’s argument. Standing in the way of a government action isn’t something the courts take lightly. (Unless we’re talking the John Roberts Supreme Court, of course.) His decision is still a big disappointment since VLA seemed to have strong arguments. But the judge found reason to ignore those arguments, thanks in large part to the Legislature. Yay, Democrats!

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Putting a Price Tag on The Great Unhousing

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Remember what I’ve written about the cost of ending the motel voucher program being higher than the cost of keeping it going? And i mean the purely financial cost, leaving aside the moral dimension of unhousing 80% of Vermont’s homeless.

Well, here’s a nice real-life example. The city of Barre has offered the use of its B.O.R. Arena as a shelter space for the next three months.

For a price.

Specifically $29,025 a day.

That’s what the state of Vermont would have to pay the city to use the Arena as a shelter, according to City Manager Nick Storellicastro.

At that rate, a fully-occupied Arena shelter would cost about $125 per household — which is a bit lower than what the state is paying right now per motel room, but quite a bit higher than the figure offered by former gubernatorial candidate Brenda Siegel, who says motel operators are willing to accept $100 per day.

And that $125 does not include the cost of 24/7 staffing, which Storellicastro is not offering to provide.

This ought to make everyone think twice about the sheer financial wisdom of ending the voucher program. It puts the state and municipalities in a sheer scramble to accommodate people, and that usually results in wasted time, energy, and money.

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