This space, April 11, regarding the Legislature’s intent to end the motel voucher program:

Much of the impact will fall on municipalities. You’d think the Vermont League of Cities and Towns might declare an interest in preventing their members from taking it in the shorts. You’d think the mayors would be tramping to the Statehouse to beg the state to bear the responsibility instead of fobbing it off.

Well, the mayors did not, in fact, tramp to the Statehouse, nor did the very influential VLCT bring its considerable muscle to bear. Cue the consequences.

WCAX: “Smaller Vt. Towns Now Coping with Unhoused Population.” Comment from St. Johnsbury Town Manager Chad Whitehead: “This is happening across the entire state. I have talked with numerous town managers, and many population centers have been having this issue.”

The Journal Opinion: “For the second time this month, community members asked the Bradford Selectboard for help in addressing escalating homelessness in town.”

UPDATE. WCAX just ran a piece about downtown Burlington merchants “experiencing some challenges with foot traffic,” according to Colin Hilliard of the Burlington Business Association. One merchant reported “an increased population” of the unhoused on Church Street because of changes in the voucher program.

Yep, those merchants and their organizations should have been in there fighting for shelter, but they weren’t.

My April 11 piece was about the curious lack of Statehouse lobbying by any of the groups, institutions or governments likely to be impacted by a sudden increase in homelessness. That list included, but was not limited to, municipalities, unionized public sector workers, the entire health care system from frontline providers to top execs, the public schools, those involved in substance use care, chambers of commerce, and downtown merchants. At a time when housing advocates were trying in vain to get lawmakers to pay some damn attention, none of those other groups rose to meet the moment.

And now they’re paying the price.

It’s a small price compared to what the unhoused are going through. But it just brings home the point that housing advocates were making throughout the 2023 legislative session: The cost of dealing with large increases in homelessness will be far greater than the cost of extending the voucher program and going all-out to create new housing and shelter options.

In the end, the Legislature and Gov. Phil Scott agreed to extend voucher coverage (with some punitive new rules) for most of those enrolled in the program — but not all. And now, homelessness has become more of a problem for communities across Vermont.

Utterly predictable. And preventable. If all those other groups and institutions had been paying attention, they might have helped avoid our current crisis. But they didn’t, so here we are.