This commentary is by Joe Patrissi, who lives in South Burlington.
We live in times when finding housing to rent is, even with good credit, references, and a three-month deposit, a daunting task. Competition from other potential renters, and landlords who can set high rentals due to tight market conditions, further compound finding and obtaining housing.
Daunting becomes nearly impossible if you’ve lost housing because of an abusive partner, physical and/or behavioral health issue, alcohol or drug dependency, job loss, child care, lack of transportation, sale of the rental property by a landlord, increase in rent, or any number of other factors that create inability to keep housing secured.
And then there is the stigma of being homeless. Stigma is when you go from an individual with your own story of how you became one who is homeless, into “a homeless person” who for whatever reason couldn’t make it in our competitive winner/loser culture.
It’s not productive to ask how we got here, in Vermont, where we like to think we are unique in that we “watch out” for each other. And, how we got to a place where hundreds of individuals, families and children who spent months in motels are now or will very soon be put out on the street with no place to live because the money isn’t there to pay for the motels anymore for all who are homeless.
What to do now is the important question. And for now, until the supply increases for housing to be affordable and available, people need a place to stay. Not only “stay,” but to get the help they need to qualify for permanent housing if and when it becomes available.
People need stability. People need housing. It is a safety issue. See Maslov’s needs hierarchy: You can’t get to safety without food, warmth and shelter.
If there is not enough money to pay for temporary housing in motels, aside from letting the homeless fend for themselves, what can be done?
A possible solution can come from something the state of Vermont has control over: Its own buildings.
In Burlington, a place where many homeless will likely migrate, it has been suggested that the state office building on Cherry Street be repurposed for housing the homeless. The building was going to be up for sale and the workforce transitioned to the Agency of Human Services building at the Waterbury complex and/or work at home.
Staffing and support services can be designated to the nonprofit community if they can obtain grants from the state. Some money for this was approved in the budget that the governor vetoed.
How much it would cost to repurpose the state office building and how long it would take remains to be seen.
This is an example that could be replicated throughout the state to house the homeless if the administration and the Legislature can agree on how to make it happen.
There are state office buildings in many communities of the state. The idea that some space inside many of them can be repurposed for housing while displaced staff can work from home is a reasonable question/assumption to make.
An analysis would need to be made to assess the capital costs. The five community action agencies, for example, can be tasked with a regional supportive housing services leadership role. Those costs must be analyzed, too.
This strategy could augment the general assistance program for emergency housing so that no one that is homeless is left out in the cold.
It would take the will of both the administration and Legislature to do the work over the summer before winter to make this happen.
And if all the state office buildings can’t be repurposed, or many, what other state-owned buildings could be?
The role of government is to provide safety for its citizens. And importantly, leadership on the challenges facing those who are homeless, especially since the government has control over the properties in question.
On June 20, the Legislature comes back to respond to the governor’s budget veto. Some members of the House have indicated this issue is the top priority for them. This would be an opportunity for all parties to see if this strategy, or a version of it, could be helpful to respond to this problem.
