This commentary is by Joshua Chamberlain, a resident of Montpelier.
Despite earnest warnings from housing advocates, the Vermont Assembly and Scott administration appear hell-bent on eliminating the emergency housing voucher program and replacing it with nothing.
For two years, awash in a sea of federal funding, the government has continuously punted on a permanent shelter and housing plan for unhoused Vermonters. By its own admission, the Assembly had all the time in the world and repeatedly squandered it.
As Jane Kitchel, chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said on April 21, “It would be great if we were two years back, and putting this in place. We’re not there right now.”
That’s true. A more accurate statement would be, ‘We were there two years ago and chose to do nothing.’ The same goes for the administration, which ignored the Assembly’s numerous requests for a voucher program sunset plan.
Contrasting Kitchel’s position of”‘we’ve tried nothing and nothing has worked,” fellow Appropriations member Robert Starr made some truly sentimental remarks in committee on April 27: “The able-bodied … it’s time to go to work and have a place for them to work and earn and provide for their own, as far as I’m concerned.” Ronald Reagan couldn’t have said it better.
Ignore the 3.5% vacancy rate, or the fact Vermont ranks in the top ten states with the highest cost of living. Just shut up and work. That’s easy for Starr to say, being president of a multimillion-dollar trucking company while perpetually occupying a seat in the Assembly since 1979. To my knowledge, the Vermont Democratic Party hasn’t censured Starr over his remarks, nor over the allegations that he verbally abused housing advocate (and 2022 gubernatorial candidate) Brenda Siegel immediately after the meeting.
Even ostensible progressive Kesha Ram Hinsdale bemoaned the costs of the voucher program while completely ignoring the crux of the matter: Do we ruin the lives of 2,800 Vermonters with the stroke of a pen — or not? Perhaps her own experiences with poverty are no longer relevant since she married into a $30 million real estate empire.
Make no mistake, the Scott administration’s motel voucher program is an unmitigated disaster. The government wasted millions of dollars by not negotiating rents with property owners and inviting participants to quite literally “name their price.” One received nearly $8,000 per month, per room. That excess money could have been spent on permanent housing relief instead of a massive, federally funded handout to the hospitality industry.
While a classic case of government mismanagement, in this moment, the quality of the voucher program is no longer relevant. It is the only existing infrastructure that effectively mass shelters housing-insecure Vermonters. Both the Assembly and administration know this and both have pushed to end the program as soon as possible.
Intentions are meaningless without action. For all of our politicians’ somber tones, no action has followed suit. Each public statement of concern over unhoused Vermonters’ looming fall off the cliff distracts us from acknowledging the government’s handprints are on their backs.
Our leaders are completely unserious. The government will fund anything it truly wants: legislative pay increases, prison expansions, corporate subsidies, etc. When politicians clutch their pearls over the cost of public welfare, they are telling you they can’t be bothered. Believe them.
The government is preparing to remove upward of 2,800 Vermonters from stable housing and throw them out on the street. Vermont shelters are already at capacity and scrambling to expand their operations. The Vermont Coalition to End Homelessness estimated 45 people who experienced homelessness were also unsheltered in 2022. After the shelters are full, that number will still increase by about 5,000%.
Thousands of Vermonters will be forced to survive outdoors without shelter. And for what? To save the state a few dollars? To cover for a complete failure of leadership and policy?
The state is punishing unhoused Vermonters because it believes they are an easy target who won’t fight back. If we do nothing — if this budget goes unanswered, our government will grow more comfortable with the idea that we are all a disposable means to an end.
