Vermont plans shelters for families leaving motel program

Vermont is working to set up three shelters in the coming weeks for families experiencing homelessness who had to leave state-funded motel rooms this fall after new caps on that pandemic-era emergency housing program were imposed, officials said Wednesday.

The family shelters are planned in state buildings in Williston, Waterbury and Montpelier, Republican Gov. Phil Scott said.

Providers have not been secured to run the family shelters, which is one of the challenges, Scott said. “We’re going to get creative and figure this out and do our best to open these up,” he said at his weekly press conference.

Advocates, municipal leaders and lawmakers have urged state government to do more as an estimated 1,000 of the most vulnerable people experiencing homelessness in Vermont are leaving motel rooms this fall as the state winds down the motel voucher program. Between Sept. 19 and Oct. 14, 724 households, consisting of 877 adults and 298 children, exited the motel rooms, according to Vermont Department for Children and Families. About 100 will lose their motel rooms at the end of October, it said. The households will be eligible again for motel housing in the colder months starting on Dec. 1.

The Democrat-controlled Legislature imposed an 80-day limit on the length of motel stays and a new 1,110-room cap on the number of motel rooms the state can use to house those people in the warmer months from April through November. It also allocated $10 million to provide more emergency shelters.

Scott said on Wednesday that the state didn’t know how many people would need housing this fall and has been figuring out where it has capacity. He wouldn’t say how many families the state has identified as needing shelter but said it’s a limited number.

Six families who had been camping out at North Beach in Burlington were asked to leave on Tuesday because the city shut off the water, he said. There are possibly a couple more in the Chittenden County area, some in the Barre area, with the vast majority in Rutland, Scott said.

“We haven’t heard from others. Maybe there’s more,” the governor said. “I don’t know but we don’t have the information as to where they went when they left the program. So they may be with family members. We don’t believe they’re out on the street but we’ll find out.”

The executive director of the Good Samaritan Haven in Barre did not immediately return an email or phone message seeking comment.

The state is working on opening the shelters in Williston and Waterbury by Nov. 1, according the Department for Children and Families. The placement of a Montpelier shelter is still being determined, it said.

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