This story by Cassandra Hemenway was first published in The Bridge on Jan. 21
Amid frigid temperatures this week and growing concern about funding for housing under a new presidential administration, Good Samaritan Haven will participate in an annual national point-in-time count of people experiencing homelessness on Jan. 22. This year’s count is happening across the U.S. and comes as central Vermont continues to grapple with an unprecedented homelessness crisis.
Good Sam (as it is known locally) conducted a local count Nov. 1, 2024, at the request of the Vermont Agency of Human Services. That count revealed a staggering 312% increase in central Vermont homelessness compared to 2020. It found 592 individuals without stable housing, including 40 children, according to Meredith Warner, Good Sam’s deputy director. Warner said her agency counted in 14 central Vermont towns, and the process was “very expensive” and “the most extensive count we’ve ever done.”
Meanwhile, below-zero temperatures in the past several days prompted officials in Barre City to open an emergency shelter in coordination with the state of Vermont, the Red Cross, and local volunteers at the Barre Auditorium. The shelter is operating on a limited schedule, open at 4 p.m. on Sunday and from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. Monday through Thursday. Meals will be provided, and staffing will consist of city personnel, volunteers, and state medical reserve corps members.
The Unitarian Church in Montpelier has been providing a volunteer-run emergency cold weather shelter from 8 p.m. to 8 a.m. on nights when temperatures drop below 10 degrees Fahrenheit and will likely be operating all week, said Beth Ann Maier, a retired pediatrician and co-coordinator of the shelter.
Funding for affordable housing could drop
Housing advocates fear the crisis will deepen in coming months. Warner pointed to anticipated reductions in federal funding for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) under the newly inaugurated Trump administration. Such cuts could result in fewer affordable housing units, exacerbating an already dire situation, she said.
“Right now we’re kind of bracing for the possibility of some challenges that trickle down from the national political environment,” she said.
The concerns come while lack of affordable housing is already contributing to the growing crisis of homelessness. “We have a huge amount of pressure from a loss of housing units over two years of floods,” Warner said. “We have an increase in the cost of living and the cost of housing in central Vermont. Somebody’s going to fall out the bottom in that system. On top of that, the state modified the rules last year to shrink the motel program,” resulting in fewer rooms and fewer people eligible to stay in them.
The people who “fall out the bottom,” Maier noted, are those who require “some kind of supportive environment,” be it from aging or a physical or intellectual disability. Good Sam’s four shelters in Barre and Berlin, plus its emergency winter overflow shelter in Montpelier, remain perpetually full. So, for some, the only thing keeping them from sleeping in subzero temperatures is the temporary winter overnight shelter at the Unitarian Church of Montpelier and the (also temporary) recently set-up shelter in Barre.
Montpelier’s emergency shelter
Community volunteers have been instrumental in filling gaps where government resources fall short, and Maier is quick to point out that she sees this as a statewide problem that requires resources from the state. For now, though, about 40 people have volunteered to cover the overnight shifts at the Unitarian Church (each four-hour shift requires two people, for a total of six for the night). Last year, Maier said, only about a dozen people volunteered for the program. So far this winter, the church has operated for 15 nights when it’s been below 10 degrees outside, with an average of 10 to 11 guests per night, she said.
“It’s daunting and discouraging,” Maier said. “We believe it’s the responsibility of state government to ensure everyone has shelter, but the administration has not recognized this as a priority,” she said. She added that shelter organizations lack the capacity to rapidly expand services without significant state intervention.
Despite these efforts, weekend warming spaces remain scarce. Christ Episcopal Church operates a weekday warming space from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. under a memorandum of understanding with Good Samaritan Haven, but finding additional weekend space has proven challenging. In fact, Maier noted that the warming space at Christ Church is not guaranteed to keep going; it was originally intended to move to the Trinity Methodist Church after damage to its electrical system caused by the 2023 flood was repaired, but those repairs may not be completed for another month or longer. The Christ Church vestry (its governing body) is voting on it this week.
Warner said she continues to look for a more permanent warming space that can remain open on weekends.
Read the story on VTDigger here: Central Vermont faces soaring homelessness as annual count begins.