This story, by Report for America corps member Carly Berlin, was produced through a partnership between VTDigger and 开云体育.
Officials from Gov. Phil Scott鈥檚 administration offered more details Thursday on their plans to set up temporary, emergency shelters for unhoused Vermonters exiting the state鈥檚 pandemic-era motel housing program.
In addition to standing up a , the Department for Children and Families is moving forward with plans for a family shelter at the former Austine School for the Deaf in Brattleboro, and is working on standing up three 鈥渆mergency shelter apartments鈥� in central Vermont with service provider Capstone Community Action, DCF commissioner Chris Winters . The department could also establish up to three sites with mobile shelter units containing 46 beds each, but it hasn鈥檛 settled on locations for those, Winters said.
The shelters would vary widely in scale.
The Brattleboro family shelter, a partnership with the Winston Prouty Center for Child and Family Development, would have 20 rooms for families with children 鈥� enough space for roughly 50 individuals 鈥� and could run for approximately 17 months.
The Capstone apartments would have seven bedrooms total and could run for 15 months.
The Waterbury Armory is planned to operate for three months with space for 40 people 鈥� a large-scale group setting that Winter acknowledged is 鈥渘ot ideal, but we鈥檙e putting all options on the table.鈥�
The variety of shelter models are meant 鈥渢o relieve some of the pressure in the hotel-motel system and send a message that we are not stuck with exclusively using hotels,鈥� Winters said.
to establish these shelters by April 1, a deadline lawmakers set last year when they brokered to keep several thousand people 鈥� primarily families with children, elderly Vermonters, and people with disabilities 鈥� sheltered in motels through an expanded, pandemic-era program. Last month, the that would keep that same group 鈥� along with hundreds more people staying in motels during the winter through a separate adverse-weather program 鈥� sheltered through the end of June. But that extension still needs to clear the Senate and get the governor鈥檚 sign-off.
As the end-date for the pandemic-era program remains in flux, elements of the exit strategy remain uncertain. The state lacks a service provider to staff the Waterbury site, and is still finalizing agreements for the Brattleboro and central Vermont projects. And officials admit the number of beds they hope to have available will pale in comparison to the need.
, over 1,000 people remain in motels under the pandemic-era rules 鈥� about a third of them children.
Another 1,300 people were in motels under the adverse weather policy as of that date. Month-long vouchers through the winter policy are set to end March 15. After that, people must reapply for a room on a night-by-night basis, .
Lawmakers have repeatedly expressed frustration that the Scott administration has yet to put forth a fully developed plan to shelter those slotted to lose their motel rooms. And on Thursday they reiterated those concerns.
鈥淭o bottom-line it for myself, I want to make sure I鈥檓 understanding,鈥� said Rep. Kathleen James, D-Manchester. On April 1, over 1,000 people will lose their vouchers, James said 鈥� not including the adverse weather group 鈥� and 鈥渟o far I鈥檓 seeing ready to go, contracts signed, room for maybe a hundred people? Everything else is in the works or underway?鈥�
鈥淐orrect,鈥� Winters said.
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