Op-Ed: End Homelessness Vermont’s statement on mass un-sheltering

September 22, 2024 | By Brenda Siegel 

To the Community:

What happened yesterday in Vermont to people experiencing homelessness is nowhere close to a humane treatment of our neighbors. I saw babies and school children being sent to live in the woods and on our streets. I saw people on oxygen and in wheelchairs completely disregarded by our state. I saw people who are extremely vulnerable with psychiatric disabilities left to fend for themselves. I saw people who lost their homes in the flood dropped.

That we allowed and even orchestrated this humanitarian crisis in this state is inexcusable.

Vermont is failing to protect our most vulnerable. At End Homelessness Vermont we work primarily with people with complex needs and disabilities as well as with people at the point of an emergency. Our most vulnerable clients are being left to catastrophic outcomes. 

Over 1,000 Vermonters, including hundreds of children will lose their access to shelter by mid-October. This burden will be left on providers, municipalities and our communities in general. We must all agree that our most vulnerable Vermonters — people experiencing homelessness — deserve continuous shelter until they find permanent housing. 

“I had conversations just trying to comfort clients who did not understand due to their disability,” said Shelby Lebarron, a worker at End Homelessness Vermont. “Our clients are terrified that they will lose their lives. I can’t lay my head down or think of going to bed knowing that there are children crying in a tent in their parents’ arms. Knowing that there are people struggling to breathe. They are all alone. There are people in wheelchairs who can’t even set up a tent or get access to a bathroom.” 

Letting people suffer the most catastrophic of outcomes is not who we are in Vermont. The Vermont we know brings people together, picks up shovels after a flood to support our fellow Vermonters. These are our fellow Vermonters.

Our municipalities need support to address this crisis in a humane way. We cannot criminalize people for a housing crisis and un-sheltering that they did not create. Our community members need to meet those who are suffering with empathy and understanding or this crisis will never get better. 

The governor must call a special session and correct course on this inhumane action. We cannot allow this to stand. We are better than this and we must do better. 

Brenda Lynn Siegel is the executive director of End Homelessness Vermont.