This story, by Report for America corps member Carly Berlin, was produced through a partnership between VTDigger and Vermont Public.
Vermont’s motel voucher program for people experiencing homelessness has turned hundreds of people away so far this month because it lacks enough rooms to shelter them. That comes as temperatures are forecast to plummet into the single digits this weekend.
The Department for Children and Families turned away 344 eligible households between Dec. 1 and 16, according to Miranda Gray, the deputy commissioner of DCF’s economic services division.
The 344 households include those whom the department considers the most vulnerable under a new policy meant to prioritize them for available rooms when space is limited.
“For example, we have families that we aren’t able to offer a space to every day,” Gray said.
Advocates for unhoused Vermonters called the situation “deeply concerning.”
“The notion that we’re turning away people who the state recognizes as vulnerable at a time when the weather is as extreme as it is in the Vermonter winter – I mean, that can be a death sentence, and has been a death sentence for people,” said Frank Knaack, executive director of the Housing and Homelessness Alliance of Vermont.
The day before Thanksgiving, Tammy and Lucas Menard were found dead in a tent in Wolcott. The cause of their deaths is still under investigation, according to Kyle Casteel, a spokesperson for the Vermont Department of Health. Another individual died at an encampment behind a shopping center in Berlin several days later. The Berlin Police Department has not yet provided additional information about them.
This winter is not the first time unhoused people have been turned away from the motel program, which acts as a backstop when traditional homeless shelters are full. Last December, 330 households were rejected because of the lack of space, Gray said. This winter, however, the program’s criteria for entry are more restrictive than in years past, and fewer rooms are available.
As of Thursday, the state listed 10 out of 12 regions as having no rooms available at participating motels or hotels, or having “extremely limited” capacity, defined as five rooms or fewer.
About 1,400 rooms are currently in the state’s motel voucher system, down from about 1,600 last year, Gray said. Some advocates and lawmakers have questioned why the number of rooms has dropped.
“We want to have a capacity that’s sufficient to serve unhoused individuals, but we don’t have a full capacity to do that,” said Rep. Theresa Wood, D-Waterbury.
In several instances, Gray said earlier this month, hotels and motels have diminished their participation in the program because of new caps on how much the state will pay them. In some cases, there is an understanding between owners, municipalities and state officials to use fewer rooms to put less strain on first responders and local services, she added. Some hotels and motels have been sanctioned for health and safety issues, including the Cortina Inn in Rutland, which was placed under a 60-day suspension by state health officials earlier this month.
Burlington is one area where DCF has struggled to meet the need for shelter, Gray said. Some motels around the city have been converted into affordable housing in recent years – a great development, Gray said, but one that means fewer rooms are available for someone with a motel voucher.
And while efforts to bolster Vermont’s emergency shelter capacity continue, some seasonal shelters are still not up and running. A winter warming shelter is currently in the works in the Queen City, but isn’t expected to open until mid-January.
Read the story on VTDigger here: Vermont’s motel program turns away hundreds for lack of space, ahead of single-digit temps.