Vermont is opening two emergency family shelters, and planning a third

WATERBURY, Vt. (AP) — The state of Vermont is opening two emergency family shelters on Friday after hundreds of the most vulnerable people experiencing homelessness had to leave state-funded motel rooms this fall as new caps on that pandemic-era emergency housing program took effect.

The temporary shelters will open at the Waterbury armory and the former Vermont State Police barracks in Williston and together have a total capacity to house 17 families, according to the Vermont Department for Children and Families.

The shelters will be operated by state employees with help from contract staff, as needed, said Joshua Marshall, a spokesman for department. Families must go through an intake process to be admitted, he said by email on Thursday.

Planning is ongoing to open a family shelter in Montpelier, he said.

The facilities are meant to be temporary shelters, Marshall noted.

“There are several state departments that are going to be actively involved to ensure accountability and provide or connect to services and training with a goal of helping families get back on their feet and into a permanent living situation,” Marshall said by email.

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 allocated $10 million to provide more emergency shelters.

Advocates, municipal leaders and lawmakers have urged state government to do more as an estimated 1,000 people experiencing homelessness — including families, people with medical conditions and older Vermonters — have had to leave motel rooms this fall as the state wound 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 more were estimated to have lost their motel rooms by Thursday.

The households will be eligible again for motel housing in the colder months starting on Dec. 1.

Republican Gov. Phil Scott said earlier this month that the state didn’t know how many people would need housing this fall and has been determining where it had capacity in state-owned buildings. Six families who had been camping at North Beach in Burlington were asked to leave on Oct. 15 because the city shut off the water, he said at the time. Scott estimated that there were possibly several more families in Chittenden County, some in the Barre area, with a vast majority in Rutland, who needed housing.

There was an application for additional shelter capacity in Rutland this summer but Rutland County Mental Health was unable to continue to be the provider for the site, Marshall said.

“At this time, the state is in touch with representatives from the city and local agencies but has not received an updated shelter proposal. The state will continue to partner with the city and local agencies to explore options,” he said by email.