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Staff with Vermont Country Campers were to work through the night Wednesday to set up campers at North Beach campground in Burlington to provide isolated shelter for homeless people currently residing in the city’s low-barrier shelter.
Kevin Pounds, executive director of the nonprofit that oversees the shelter, ANEW Place, said his staff is working to move residents to the campers in an effort to halt the spread of the highly contagious COVID-19 virus among those living in the tightly cramped low-barrier shelter.
Pounds said Vermont Country Campers agreed to provide 27 fully functioning campers, which include heat, electricity and running water. Vermont’s Emergency Operation Center is funding the move.
“They’re being good neighbors,” Pounds said, referring to Vermont Country Campers and the North Beach campground staff. “There’s a shared concern that our city as a whole makes it through this.”
In an effort to curb the spread of the coronavirus among one of the state’s most vulnerable populations, the motel voucher system has also been expanded for homeless individuals who are particularly high risk for the disease, those who are older or have underlying health conditions.
The state’s COVID-19 homeless response team, led by officials at the Agency of Human Services, is also looking to establish multiple congregate recovery sites across the state for homeless individuals who test positive for the disease. However, no sites have been established in Chittenden County, Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger said Wednesday.
Weinberger said that the city and state had reached an agreement to house individuals currently staying in the city’s shelter in campers at North Beach. Weinberger said the shelter is problematic during the pandemic.
“It is not the right institution for this moment because people are living too close to each other,” he said. “If someone in that center gets the virus, it is going to spread throughout, there would be no way to stop it from spreading throughout.”
ANEW Place will run the new facility, including continuing to provide meals. The city has partnered with the state Department for Children and Families to establish the site, and Weinberger said people would be moving in there as soon as Thursday.
Sarah Phillips, who is leading the COVID-19 homeless response team, has not responded to requests for comment about the progress of establishing congregate recovery sites throughout the state.
These sites would specifically be used to treat homeless people who test positive for COVID-19. The campers and motel rooms are being used only to isolate those who are not exhibiting symptoms.
Phillips told participants on a webinar call Wednesday hosted by the Vermont Coalition to End Homelessness, some recovery sites may be established this weekend and into next week. She did not say if the state was partnering with particular entities to establish these sites.
Weinberger said isolating those who test positive is the only way to stop the spread of the virus.
“This is something that is not solved yet,” Weinberger said. “I want people to know we are working on solving it, I want people to know we are doing everything we can with the state to make sure this need gets met as quickly as possible.”
In a “perfect world,” Pounds said, shelters could use University of Vermont dorms as one of these sites because people could be easily isolated and they would allow quick access to the UVM Medical Center.
But university spokesperson Enrique Corredera confirmed that no partnerships have been entered into between UVM and any shelters.
“While we do not have the ability to bring additional people on campus,” Corredera wrote in an email, “we are hopeful that local motels and hotels may be in a better position to assist here and across the state.”
The Champlain Housing Trust is using one of its motels, called Harbor Place, to house homeless people who are exhibiting symptoms of the coronavirus, but who haven’t tested positive, in an effort to keep them isolated.
“The primary goal is to isolate people,” Chris Donnelly, CHT’s director of community relations, said. “In a shelter, there’s no way to create that space or have your own bathroom. Or if you’re living in a tent, that’s even more challenging.”
The motel is currently housing four people, Donnelly said. He said the motel has a capacity to hold 55 residents.
Weinberger said the city had been working to care for the city’s homeless population since the start of the pandemic.
“In this public health crisis, that is an even bigger problem because, again, people need shelter, they need to be protected from this virus,” he said.