The news is full of stories about the aftermath of the great flood. Our political leaders are fully engaged on the issues of flood relief. We hear about the plight of homeowners, renters, small businesses, and the various public and private efforts to help them in time of need. But there’s one group we hear little to nothing about.
It’s the people who had no home or shelter when the rains came on July 10.
The attitude among our leaders appears to be that after all, the unhoused had nothing before the flood, so did they really lose anything?
That may strike you as an unfair characterization, but it’s kind of baked into the disaster relief system. People and businesses get help based on tangible, reportable property losses. No property, no losses, right?
This includes the 750 or so households we sentenced to homelessness on June 1 when Gov. Phil Scott and Legislature tightened eligibility standards for the motel voucher program. The state made no particular effort to track those people after their forced exit. No one seems to know where they are or what their living conditions are like.
WCAX-TV just ran a story entitled “Where are evicted hotel-motel program recipients staying?” Unfortunately, it made no real effort to answer its own question. There were estimates from Burlington about the increase in the unhoused population since June 1, but nothing beyond the city limits.
And now we’ve added God knows how many more to their number. I’m sure God knows, but I don’t see any effort by our earthly leaders to track the newly unhoused. Have there been any efforts to expand shelters that were at or near capacity before the first drop of rain fell? Has anything been done for them besides handing out tents?
Many of which have been washed away in floods. I’ve been told that some of the unhoused have lost their tents multiple times and been given — hey, I’m sure this will work jusr fine — another tent each time.
What’s that thing about the definition of insanity is doing the same failed thing over and over again?
The governor and our Congressional delegation held a telephone town hall about flood recovery tonight. Did the unhoused come up at all? Nope. Did any of our leaders, even St. Bernie, broach the subject? Not to my knowledge. (If any of them can show that I’m wrong, I’ll be happy to post a correction.)
Last time I wrote about the flood of flood-related GoFundMe campaigns meant to help individuals, families, businesses, and farms. I didn’t see a single campaign in support of an unhoused person. The digital philanthropy space has a sign on its door: “The Unhoused Are Unwelcome.”
Will the governor and the Legislature consider reopening the motel voucher program, or putting new muscle behind efforts to expand emergency shelters? I haven’t heard a peep.
Do we know how many have joined the ranks of the unhoused since July 10? I haven’t seen any such accounting. According to VTDigger, more than 4,000 residential units (houses, apartments, mobile homes, etc.) suffered damage according to reports filed through the state’s 211 line.
How many are currently unlivable? How many were total losses?
How many more will eventually become lost? Many buildings that appear potentially livable right now will develop toxic mold. Many have suffered subtle damage that may prove financially unfeasible to fix. Some are at risk of post-flood landslides. Cold weather may arrive before heating systems are repaired or replaced. Landlords will likely walk away from some properties rather than rebuild.
A person who lost their home after 2011’s Tropical Storm Irene told me they didn’t find out they’d become unhoused until a month after the storm, when the landlord declined to do mold remediation. “There’s a bunch of people who will never be able to go home,” they said.
Oh wait, here’s another one. You know how 75% of Vermonters who got Section 8 rent vouchers wound up not using them because there simply weren’t any units on offer? Well, how much worse did that problem just get?
One thing we hear repeatedly is that in this age of global warming, natural disasters are likely to hit more and more often. Are we planning a proportionate increase in shelter space?
Even before the flood, Vermont had the second highest rate of homelessness in the country. The storm may well put us over the top. Do we get a gold medal or what?
Note on the illustration. This is a work of public art by British artist Luke Jarram, designed to, in his words, “highlight the growing number of hidden and invisible homeless people there now are.”
The Vermont Political Observer. 
First thing: very much needed follow on of all this.
“The attitude among our leaders appears to be that after all, the unhoused had nothing before the flood, so did they really lose anything?”
It’s a societal thing. Compare the treatment of somebody who has their last $100 stolen from them to the treatment afforded another who has their last $10,000,000 stolen from them. Both case represent 100% of their wealth; but the seriousness the cases are afforded is determined by the count of dollars.
I think it’s starting to change.
Jeez John, your super majority of progs and dems seem to be not as advertised. Maybe if we had fewer Baruths, Brays, Clarksons, MacDonalds, and old what’s her name, speaker of the house, we would find some relief for the homeless. The people in charge seem to care less, even the Guv that you detest. You might find someone to champion besides your usual jerks. I understand that Copeland Hanzas has a diatribe about climate change. The homeless are expendable.
I have made it perfectly clear that the Dems and Progs failed on this issue. It was especially galling since they did so much good work in other areas.
Yep. Like S5 a bill designed to break many Vermonters. Good work huh?
Hello, Mr. Walters.
Having written on poverty climate, flooding and the housing shortage, you will be interested in Brattleboro Common Sense, Inc. We promoted the eviction controls which were hijacked and then defeated; we’re organizing people in flood-plains to learn about flooding as a non-climate issue; we’re developing new housing and emergency shelters in RVs while under prosecution by the town, and we’ve done almost all the local climate legislation since 2010.
“It was especially galling since they did so much good work in other areas.”
We should make it haunt them every day of their time in office.
Nobody is more unhoused than an unborn baby who is ripped from her snug little house in the womb of her mother, and thrown out on the street in pieces, or late-term whole to be sold to a biomedical research lab for body parts. Now, THAT is unhoused.
You’re not a human being till you’re in my phone book.
John, does “so much good work in other areas” include a 20% increase in DMV fees that wasn’t even requested. Do you think the dopes in the legislature will have the gaul to give themselves a raise as per the bill introduced by Clarkson and Hardy? That would be the living end. Your guys don’t fit your narrative.