As 2,800 Vermonters prepare to lose their shelter, Democrats blame Phil Scott and plead for donations to themselves

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House Speaker Jill Krowinski discusses the budget at the Statehouse in Montpelier on May 12. Photo by Natalie Williams/VTDigger

In less than a week and a half, on June 1, about 800 homeless people in Vermont will lose access to a state-run program that offered them shelter in motels and hotels. A month later, on July 1, around 2,000 people, including nearly 600 children entitled to an extra month due to age, disability or special circumstances, will be kicked out.

Those deadlines were enshrined in law by Vermont’s Democratic supermajorities in the Legislature. And in an $8.5 billion state budget passed by lawmakers in mid-May, Democratic leaders stuck to that timeline, refusing to further expand the pandemic-era shelter program.

But under pressure from a splinter group of Democrats and Progressives to reopen budget talks and continue the motel program in one form or another, Democratic leaders are now pointing the finger at Gov. Phil Scott.

On Monday, House Speaker Jill Krowinski, D-Burlington, formally presented Scott with a copy of the budget, officially beginning the five-day deadline within which the governor must decide whether to sign or veto a draft bill. law. And the next day, she released a statement, urging Scott to sign and castigating his administration’s failure of leadership for failing to devise an adequate plan for the nearly 3,000 people who will soon lose their shelter.

“I implore Governor Scott to recognize the urgency of this matter and take action to allow the state budget to become law,” she wrote. Together, we can make a meaningful difference in the lives of Vermonters, providing them with the support and resources they deserve. to lead a successful life.

A fundraising email sent by the Vermont Democratic Party on Tuesday night went even further. In a missive asking 100 supporters to donate just $5 to fight the heartless extremism of Phil Scott, the party claimed the Republican governor was trying to stop Democrats from providing immediate action to house vulnerable Vermonters, refusing to do anything else to fight homelessness.

Your investment TODAY could mean the difference between protecting Vermont’s struggling communities or succumbing to the far-right’s anti-progress agenda, the email continues.

The Democrats are right to say that there is money in the budget they passed that will ultimately help support people without homes, including millions for support services, building affordable housing and expansion of shelter capacity. And Scott has made it clear that a veto on the budget is likely because it raises new taxes.

But Scott’s objections to the budget have nothing to do with housing. Indeed, while Democrats, fortified by supermajorities, have made it clear that they are not afraid to circumvent it entirely on some topics (like climate change legislation), they have largely embraced the framework and, above all, , Scott’s proposed funding for the state budget in future years. to the problem of homelessness in Vermont.

Federal funding for the expanded motel program, which has housed the vast majority of Vermont’s growing homeless population since 2020, dried up in March. Over Scotts’ objections, Democratic leaders have set aside state money to extend it through July 1, but have otherwise embraced his argument that Vermont cannot afford to continue the program. without federal assistance.

Service providers and advocates have made it clear that they believe a humanitarian crisis is inevitable. With existing shelters already full, emergency services understaffed and an ongoing housing crisis, they say there simply isn’t a humane alternative to motel rooms in the immediate future.

In the final days of the session, under huge pressure from advocates, Democratic leaders added $12.5 million to the budget of local service providers, to be spent on things like camping gear for people leaving. motels or better wages for shelter staff. But that figure was reached in concert with administration officials, a point made publicly by one of the House budget negotiators and widely criticized by advocates and service providers as far too little, far too much. late.

Democrats are now pointing to that money as proof that help is on the way and that it is Scott’s stubbornness that is preventing it from arriving in time. Krowinskis’ statement on Tuesday referred to funds that can be immediately allocated to communities in all 14 counties, including funding for transitional housing programs that are needed as soon as possible.

Anne Sosin, a public health researcher at Dartmouth College who lobbied lawmakers to extend the program, said in an interview Tuesday that Democrats need to stop bragging about a budget that cuts shelters at a time when Vermont has one of the worst homelessness rates in the country. .

A homelessness policy that relies on handing out tents to people who depend on oxygen tanks and electricity-dependent devices for survival will cause predictable and preventable harm, she said. The budget will be a lasting moral stain on the state.

As for the email soliciting party donations, Sosin called it obscene that Democrats are raising funds on the backs of the thousands of Vermonters they just voted to get out of their shelters.

In a statement, Jason Maulucci, Scotts’ press secretary, called it unfortunate that the Vermont Democratic Party is increasingly resorting to the desperate DC-style playbook that continues to tear our nation apart.

Jim Dandeneau, the party’s executive director, on Wednesday defended the fundraising email. Phil Scott puts these people on the street, he said. And he argued that it was governors’ mismanagement of federal dollars that led to the problem. He pointed to, for example, state officials allowing some motel owners to charge up to $8,000 for a single room.

They set fire to that money, he said. But VTDigger reported these issues with the program in March. And lawmakers were aware of these issues long before, often complaining at meetings of the motel owners’ price gouging committee.

Lawmakers never demanded reforms from the administration because of concerns about the price of the program or reports that motels were improperly withholding deposits from their vulnerable tenants. When asked why, Dandeneau once again pointed the finger at Scott.

This is a part-time amateur legislature with a huge agenda and a lot of work to do and work they are doing in the absence of any leadership or cooperation from the Scott administration. So maybe they didn’t have time to do it, he said.

In an interview with VTDigger, Krowinski simultaneously argued that lawmakers had oversight over the motel program and were limited in what they could do.

I don’t have the power to negotiate individual contracts like the administration does. You know, there are certain things that as Speaker of the House, I don’t have the power to do, she said. She added that the motel program and its issues had been discussed in several House committees and argued that this was an oversight. His chief of staff, Conor Kennedy, then followed up with a list of three committee hearings, including one covered by VTDigger, in which lawmakers discussed the programs in general.

And Krowinski insisted it was urgent that Scott sign the budget now to get desperately needed help to local communities.

Some of the comments I’ve heard from vendors are that the hotel program doesn’t solve the problem we’re trying to solve and that extra beds and staff would be helpful, she said.

Service providers said the additional support for shelters and staff salaries was welcome and needed. But they have also been unequivocal that there is no way they will be able to absorb the thousands of people on the verge of losing their shelter within weeks.

There is no opportunity to quickly create new shelter beds, wrote a set of 13 advocacy and shelter groups in a joint letter released May 12, the same day lawmakers passed their budget. We have cars and tents and bridges left for families with children, the disabled and the elderly.

A group of Democrats and Progressives in the House has threatened to withhold support for the budget, which Democratic leaders will need in June if they are to achieve the two-thirds majority needed to overcome a potential veto by the governor. Among their demands: expand the program in some form and force administration officials to negotiate better rates with motel owners.

Rep. Troy Headrick, P/D-Burlington, is one such lawmaker. Seeing the fundraising call from Democrats, he took to social media, writing that Democratic leaders had clear options to create a more humane exit ramp for our most vulnerable Vermonters.

They ignored these options. Instead, they saw an opportunity to scapegoat the administration (perhaps fairly) and manufacture a fundraising opportunity, he continued. They ARE COLLECTING MONEY to help themselves instead of adjusting a budget to serve our homeless.

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