Necessary_Cat_4801 t1_j7pv4yn wrote on February 8, 2023 at 3:50 PM

Reply to comment by Kixeliz in Vermont’s rates of homelessness are (almost) the worst in the country by DaddyBobMN

I'm not defending the count, sorry that was unclear. Not all of what you say is true but my point is not to defend the count, my point is to counter the denial in this thread that the problem isn't real.

Kixeliz t1_j7pwbhb wrote on February 8, 2023 at 3:57 PM

The person you're responding to wasn't saying the problem isn't real, seemed to me they were complaining about the shit system we have to try and measure the problem. It's been called a snapshot by others and advocates don't see much value in the count, but it's the only way to get HUD funding so they play along.

Necessary_Cat_4801 t1_j7pxazy wrote on February 8, 2023 at 4:04 PM

It seems that people are shocked that we are ranked so high and want to minimize it.

Kixeliz t1_j7py7gu wrote on February 8, 2023 at 4:10 PM

I'm sure there is some of that at play, as well. It's something I see quite a bit in Chittenden County, too. Vermont offers services other states don't which draws people here to use those services. Then the naysayers (conservatives) get to point out how big of a failure the services were because demand was too high and grew the homeless population here. It's easier to say "look at all the problems your services caused" than "if everywhere offered these services, there wouldn't be such a concentration here."

Necessary_Cat_4801 t1_j7pyouo wrote on February 8, 2023 at 4:13 PM

And the weird part of this is advocates have a perverse incentive to go along and paint it as a local problem rather than a national problem. They will minimize the people coming from out of state, even going so far as to say that people who are homeless in Burlington are from Burlington as opposed to Rutland, for example. Obviously the reason is the pushback against helping outsiders, so it's portrayed as a local issue when it really isn't.

Kixeliz t1_j7pzf7i wrote on February 8, 2023 at 4:18 PM

It's easier to sell helping your neighbor down on his luck than a dude from Missouri who just showed up looking for help. People should just be people, but as this sub routinely shows, a good portion of people in this state will only give a shit if they think you're a "real Vermonter."

Necessary_Cat_4801 t1_j7pzwwf wrote on February 8, 2023 at 4:21 PM

Well, there's a reason for that. Gentrification is making it very difficult for regular people to live here. Obviously that is far from the only factor but when a bunch of people with money show up at the same time it's almost impossible to find housing, people are going to be pissed. That's not a surprise to me. The gentrification is certainly contributing to homelessness, particularly family homelessness, because families typically have access to vouchers and can find housing if it's available. There are other huge problems like Act 250 and NIMBYism but covid era gentrification has hurt Vermont's ability to house its most vulnerable.

Kixeliz t1_j7q0e5l wrote on February 8, 2023 at 4:24 PM

That and humans are tribalistic by nature, something we still haven't been able to work around in 2023.

Necessary_Cat_4801 t1_j7q10f7 wrote on February 8, 2023 at 4:28 PM

What I hear is a lot of frustration with VT turning into a version of Aspen. In my opinion, people and politicians ignore that frustration at their peril.

I think rich people moving here to work from home is creating a boring, stuffy, homogenous VT that is becoming a difficult, terrible place to live. On the flip side of that, if someone wants to move here from Ohio to be a teacher, or work in a local business, that's great. Please come. For me it's not about tribalism, it's about VT being a place for more than one group of people.