This isn't one bit surprising.

I don't think any buisness that get funding actually used it for what it was for. Maybe 1%.

It also gave them a reason not to hire and continue to claim staff shortage.

Can you bring this to the press?

I have brought this to the attention of many different press agencies and no one is interested in the story. I'm assuming that homeless people don't make "good stories"

I am disappointed we haven't been able to come up with a better system: rural/ small towns tend to have small unsheltered populations, so seasonal shelters aren't a great fit either. The facilities have to be family friendly shelters or choose to be for adults only so that limits the populations it can serve (and small towns are rarely large enough to accommodate two separate shelters). It's difficult to find a pool of volunteers large enough to staff (and because it's overnights, is even more difficult to find volunteers), the insurance for temporary shelters is expensive, and its sometimes difficult to find locations for these temporary shelters (think "not in my backyard" now with the added difficulty in the rental market) Hotel vouchers seemed promising because they allowed for privacy, decreased worries about location/ volunteers/insurance. The amount of money it costs either way to house unsheltered populations is very high and especially problematic in rural New England (if we had higher population density and better public transportation some of the costs/issues would be decreased). Our money would be better spent toward keeping people in their own housing- whether that's through a guaranteed income, subsidies, job training, caseworkers who could assist people in getting jobs or housing or navigating fuel/ for assistance, or more plentiful and affordable housing, I don't know.... This is a complaint I've heard from other people who have experienced homelessness in VT, but I don't know what the solution is because fines or inspectors would probably not create better temporary housing, just less housing (these slum motels would not change, they'd just stop accepting these long term guests).

Was VT Digger one of the ones you tried? I would think this fits into their overall raison d'etre...

I just submitted this article to them, hopefully it will gain some traction this time around

Wasn't there a similar issue reported about Harbor Place last year? seven days or VT digger. Same stories as OPs. There was a worker from COTS that complained and advocated for her clients, and she got 'fired', but not for this story of course, for different reasons (yeah right). A few of Vermont's non-profits could use an enema.

This is a powerful read. More people need to hear your story.

Did you reach out to your state representative and state senators? They keep saying affordable housing is going to be the number one thing this session. They need to hear this so they can make sure that situations such as yours are taken into account when they take this issue up.

This extends to more than just the owners of these facilities, this extends to landlords. I can’t think of one property management group that ACTUALLY maintains their units. Painting a crack in the wall isn’t maintenance.

Siegel brought up some of this at the debates with Phil Scott. Hoffer has also made a report about some of this as state auditor. This is a sign of corruption through-and-through.

State Auditor's report

This. Bring it to the press. The state needs to be doing walkthroughs, finding violations and pulling money out when necessary.

You are describing government bloat and waste that conservatives always complain about. And for good reason. These lazy state employees are more than happy to take a basically free paycheck every week but lord forbid they actually do anything that would benefit real people they aren’t related to. But don’t you dare take their wasteful pensions that we are stuck footing the bill for

I worked at a shelter in rutland for many years. The holiday Inn was disgusting the manager of the holiday Inn in rutland that came to speak with us was a pretty deplorable guy saying it was worth the cost of keeping them there at $74 dollars per person per night.

The state pays homeless shelters a MAXIMUM of 35.08 a night the last I knew generally it was closer to $5

The hotel program basically gave hotel owners money hand over fist like every other program put in place in the past 3-4 years they're are put in place to line the pockets of the already wealthy.

The Homeless Report that Seven Days did at the bottom of that article was very insightful. A lot of valuable information in there.

They're basically giving massive handouts to the hospitality industry instead of actually addressing housing issues.

The GA Housing Supervisor with ESD has been refusing to answer my emails for months. The latest reply was from her supervisor asking me to submit a "public information request as this is how advocacy organizations obtain information"

Openly deflecting all questions and communications on possible solutions.

I am not an organization obviously, I provided my own SS# and asked why this is happening.

This is really saddening to hear, I see no reason why a shelter should not be afforded the same funding as these hotels which are private.

CORRECT!!

Lets call this what it really is, a "gross misallocation of resources while neglecting those in need"

Do you have their statement about profitability in writing? Or was it only said? If it's not in writing I could understand why press agencies wouldn't take the story, plausible deniability.

I honestly feel sorry for you. A lot of these people that own these motels are from shithole countries that are grossly overpopulated and filled to the brim with trash. They don’t treat other very well as they are treated like trash themselves. I stayed in a motel owned by said people and it was fucking disgusting.

I unfortunately do not have that on record, it was a verbal conversation.

Tip: add a tltr that is good enough to get people to actually read this. This sounds like an excellent grass roots cause, VT taxes are some of the highest in the land, there should be ample funding to manage this program with the relatively modest population. Also, with as messed up as the housing market AND the cost of heating and eating, many more may find themselves in need of services. Can you organize and reach out to news organizations and groups that look at these things on a national level? Think about all that Covid money that went out to sham small business only to buy fancy cars and new homes for scammers, it's enraging.

Are any of the people (being housed in these conditions) refugees? If so, that might be the angle to take to get the media interested.

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Refugees have their own separate programs pertaining to housing. However the same issues exist within those programs. The majority of the refugees around Winooski are housed in units owned by Bove's and Handy's. It's my understanding that the sheer number of units owned by these landlords gives them the upper hand when dealing with agencies/organizations.

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Thanks for the tip, I'll keep that in mind for the future!

"Housing advocate" is not a job.

Reality Check: Anyone with a nice motel is renting to tourists and has no interest in housing the homeless. There simply are no homeless shelter beds available, especially for families (with a few notable exceptions, which are at capacity.) So the State looks for anywhere they can house people...and this means shoddy motels that would otherwise simply shut down. They're not going to sign up these facilities if it comes with a laundry list of 'code' violations to be corrected at the owners expense. They determined that an available, poorly-maintained housing unit is better than your car. You can make that determination, too.

It is very obvious to me that the people of the Vermont could not give a shit about this population. If they truly wish to do some thing they would, but this will continue unabated and unchecked! I’m sorry I wish it wasn’t true it just is. It’s better to be more concerned about whatever it is. Vermonters are concerned about if they wanted some thing to happen, it would.

You're correct, its a descriptive term used to describe someone who publicly supports a particular cause. In this case, its Housing.

Thus the term "Housing Advocate"

Incorrect, there are many successful hotels in the state that are participating in the THP that are still open to the public. Meeting health guidelines is simple.

I agree that there simply is no where better to move these people to, and a bed is a bed. However with these hotels receiving around $4k/month per room... on the low end each hotel having 30+ rooms in the program that's over $120k guaranteed income each month. They can absolutely be maintained at the "owners expense". At over two years into the program any property failing to meet "code" is on the behalf of the owners poor property maintenance and misallocation of funds.

Clearly we live in different areas of the state. Most near me have 8 to 10 units. All arguments to the contrary, the basic fact is: If the state had the rooms, they wouldn't have signed these places up to begin with, knowing what they were like...and none of these motels would have agreed to the arrangement if it meant engaging in a fix-up project they had already decided against doing.

The larger hotels that participate with mixed homeless/tourist residencies are hotels in trouble. No hotel with a vibrant tourist trade participates. They are even reluctant to house temporary construction workers.

AHS is also placing unhoused persons outside of their county, due to hotel overflow issues …and then, when the unhoused person is helped to find a slot in a transitional housing program, in their home county, the person is then refused the slot because they “reside outside of the county” and it is nearly impossible for ESD to communicate with the transitional housing programs to rectify this. It’s so baffling and heartbreaking to work with.

Oh and then, they run out of the hotel money and end up outside again.

And all this money being handed out to hotels and yes even people through VERAP almost ZERO case management to go with it. Real spectacular failure and I hate talking about it I’m so angry

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(It's TL;DR - too long, didn't read, followed by a synopsis. Great suggestion, excellent cause)

Pathetic.

Fascinating and awful.

My own experience being homeless in this state shares some similarities to yours.

A good friend of mine, facing homelessness, said they refused to be housed at a hotel because of the frequent and obvious drug presence in the local hotels used for housing homeless people.

People talk about addiction and homelessness like they're personality flaws and not problems born out of a low-pay, low-housing, high-cost, high-stress culture.

Unfortunately the answer to every question seems to be "money" - why is this happening? How do we fix it? How do we permanently remove these issues from society?

Keep investigating. Keep pushing for answers. You need a team. Have you considered reaching out to other people and documenting homelessness and housing issues in the state, to be condensed, edited, and presented to the local presses, hopefully moving some change forward?

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They could’ve used all of those funds going into the program to create large shelters that are adequately stFfed and get paid well.

Unfortunately, the motels have become a cesspool with drugs and crime and I think that prevents the recovery of other populations

you’re a disgusting human being.

Thanks for the clarification

I had worked in this program for quite some time, and you are correct. It is an absolute disaster in every aspect. A lot of the hotels are absolutely negligent towards the state guests and their hotel conditions, with some of the staff throughout the state who I had been appalled by their behavior to not just the guests of the state, but people in general. I had witnessed a hotel manager shout orders at a disabled woman who was smoking a cigarrette on one of the curbs in the parking lot, exclaiming that she wasn't allowed to sit while she was smoking. Any disobedience would be met with the threat of eviction, and in the absence of the possibility of eviction, they would often be subjected to intense and consistent harrassment.

And the faults of the program don't lie with the hotels exclusively. I have seen countless incidents where economic services would out right lose or misplace paper work for people in desperate situations, putting people at risk for not only being unable to find housing, but for those who were looking to renew their housing as well. Economic services would also deny housing to most people that would require extra paper work. Immigrants of recent arrival would be looked over because they would have to be assigned a social security number. I only knew of one agent would was legitimately attempting to help, and would not look at the acquisition of a social security number as too much work. It's hard to say how many immigrants have been denied housing because of this.

Another big problem is the people living off of the program themselves. Most of them anyway, but not all. Some of the shittiest people I have ever come across in my life had been involved in this program(Guests, ESD, and Hotel staff.). I knew of one mother who would regularly leave her children unattended for hours at a time, sometimes leaving them with full diapers. Yes, diapers. They were that young. DCF wanted nothing to do with that case. And there were so many other instances of similarity. Some people came as recovering drug addicts, doing their best to change their lives. Many of them good people. But then there were those who had no interest in self improvement, inviting drug dealers and fellow users over to their rooms, threatening the safety of not only sober guests, but those who were trying to recover from addiction as well. Mental health was also a huge concern. I had worked with many people who had needs that far surpassed the hotels' accommodations.

Then there are the actual paying guests who visit these hotels. People who are lied to about hotel involvment in this state program. People who pay a lot of money to enjoy a restful night but who are instead fooled. Kept up at night by domestic disputes, arguments, barking dogs, police and rescue visits, etc. Everytime I would see a paying guest walk in to any of the hotels, I would wish I could tell them to run.

I could go on and on. I have far to many horror stories to share about this program. It is a fucking circus.

Although I would like to add a comment about the Days Inn, and the comment OP had made regarding them. The Days Inn in Colchester was top of the line in terms of the best places to be assigned through ESD. I was there when complaints about the doors not locking were circulating. First of all, it was only one door that was not secure, and to no fault of the door's. Although there is a bit of a security concern. An individual who did not seem to be of sound mind had walked right through the front doors, and began trying to open several doors to find a room to sleep in. They had found a door that was not fully shut and had walked in disturbing the sleeping guest. After the staff had been alerted, and the individual escorted out, the door was tested extensively after the guest had claimed his lock had not worked, allowing the individual access. The door was tested extensively and was found to operate just fine. It seemed the guest hadn't latched their door that night. Of course the guest, in his malcontent, stuck to the narrative that the doors in the hotel were not secure. I can confirm, that that is bullshit. Although, from my experience, the majority of night shift staff that Days Inn has held over the course of this program had often been wholly negligent in their duties. They often do not care enough, or are too busy sleeping, to stop any unidentified persons walking into the lobby at night per hotel policy. I must say though, besides their night time staff, Days Inn had been extremely accommodating to their guests, going so far as to even keep copies of completed paperwork for their guests, for when ESD would inevitably "lose or misplace" said paperwork. Anyone with a complaint regarding Days Inn, was often the source of their own problems.

As I said, I could go on for quite some time. Conclusively, the housing program is an absolute shit show. Composed of careless state workers, negligent hotels, and a vast number of shit people who have no right taking advantage of the program. And I didn't even touch on the role of law enforcement and security personell(Or rather, the lack thereof). The program should be reformed, and be more careful in their selection of applicants. Until then, this program is nothing more than a trash can where the state throws their unwanted, so they can keep their fabled pristine image of the Burlington and Montpelier areas free of the very real and underlying examples of the state's struggle with homelessness, mental health, addiction, and crime.

This requires that "their own housing" is plentiful... Which it is not

I wanted to clarify that my article mentions the "Quality" Inn and not the "Days" Inn.

The Days Inn is a resounding success within the THP as far as I am concerned. The hotel administration went above and beyond to bring in resources for mental health and substance abuse. Things that DCF/ESD were unable to accomplish. Their hotel is also clean and holds events for the children that are housed there.

The Quality Inn however has administration that's under the impression that they are running a "sober house" of sorts and doesn't adhere to many of the THP guidelines. The google reviews make some interesting accusations as well but I have not been able to confirm those.

I really appreciate hearing your experience with the program, there is a lot to unpack here and I would be interested in more details regarding your time working in the program.

My husband and I worked for a local motel during COVID and we were fired for asking to be paid minimum wage. We have an ongoing lawsuit against the owner for sexual discrimination, sexual harassment and a federal wage case. They are also being investigated for the deplorable conditions of the rooms. These local motels are being paid handsomely and treating the employees and guests as second class citizens. We have a lawyer in Williston that is amazing and a lawyer in Florida that specializes in these kinds of cases.

Like a lot of issues in the state there are limited actions we the people can take. We have 2 chances every election cycle to get someone halfway decent into office who will address the issues that main street VT needs fixed. Thats it! The primary and general elections, no ballot referendum to choose the policies and laws we live under, No recall powers of the people to remove bad actors once they are in power, until that changes i feel that any other changes will be like the legalization fight.. 5 election cycles and 15 years to eventually get anything done where a question on a ballot could have solved the problem fast.

Can you link me the COTS story please? I’m very interested

I don’t actually see the state following through on major habitability issues in Apartments, it really doesn’t shock me to see the same attitude towards lodgings for the poor. We have great protections on book in this state, but the agencies refuse to enforce the law.

Or in any better state of maintenance/oversight, which it is not either. There has been talk of using federal funds to encourage lower/mixed income housing to be built, but it's hard to do with VT zoning, the housing market, and the cost and availability of construction labor and materials.

As lovely as we find our home state to be our government agencies, especially DCF are not in any way benevolent or compassionate toward the humans they are supposed to serve. Corruption and abuse are rampant at these agencies. Profits over people is the golden rule. Whether it's your children in contested divorce or as here with our vulnerable homeless/economically challenged population, DCF will mess up your life and carry on like nothing. Complaints via official channels will be ignored and the press won't touch these issues with a ten foot pole. There is much to love and be proud of here in Vermont but the VT Department of Children and Families is not included.

My apologies on the mix up. I'm actually surprised I misread that, I am well acquainted with the Quality Inn as well. I had the exact oposite experience with the Quality Inn that I had had with Days Inn. The Quality Inn is quite possibly a humanitarian micro-crisis. Not only have I had horrid experiences there, primarily with the hotel staff, but the rumors and stories circulating among the guests there were beyond concerning and certainly alarming. Not to mention the over all quality of living. The hotel manager of the Quality Inn is not only infamous from mentions of her in online reviews, but among the housing program community as well. ESD, other participating hotels and their staff, and additional involved parties are well acquainted with the renown hostility of that particular hotel and manager.

Would it be ok for us to connect via private message? Given the blatant fair housing violations, there is an opportunity for a class action lawsuit against the state. I'm so sorry you've had this experience, but I can help. Thank you so much for sharing.

The tolerant left

google the paradox of tolerance :)

What's most blackpilling about this situation, IMO, is that 90% of Americans will observe the same thing as you did, and immediately blame the victims for the deplorable slum conditions at these hotels. Landlords and capitalists feast off our suffering and then convince us to hate the victim instead of the oppressor. Or, as Malcolm X put it far more eloquently,

> If you're not careful, the newspapers will have you hating the people who are being oppressed, and loving the people who are doing the oppressing.

The average American will use these conditions that violate basic human rights as a reason to support even more austerity. Oh, just look at what *those people* do when we give them nice things. They just destroy them! Surely we must cut what little remains of the social safety net. Pull yourself up by your bootstraps! (willfully ignorant that the whole point of that idiom is that it is impossible)

We are a country populated mostly by demons, with no semblance of morality left whatsoever. The only American value that remains is greed. Glad there's still a few good ones left out there like you, OP. I wish you the best of luck in trying to make things a bit less awful in your neck of the woods. But you must know, it's an uphill battle when you're living in a failed state. This thing we call America is dead already.

> Another big problem is the people living off of the program themselves.

I had to scroll past a mere two threads to find an American blaming the victim. I am Jack's complete lack of surprise. Americans are such a wicked and cruel people.

Poverty is a failure of society, not the individual.

> This program is nothing more than a trash can where the state throws their unwanted

They're human beings, not garbage. Housing is a human right. That's not just a catchy woke political slogan, either. It's been defined as a basic human right under international law for decades now. That means every human deserves basic shelter, regardless of how rotten they are. Even Jeffrey Epstein and Harvey Weinstein deserve human rights.

The media wants us to hate each other. They're on the same side as the corporate hotel owners in the class war. If you bring this to the media, they'll make it an exposé on how your tax dollars are being wasted, and demonize the residents for trashing this poor job creator's property.

Better off trying to make it go viral on social media IMO. Harder for the owners of this country to control the narrative that way... The few decent journalists that remain can find it here too, and risk getting fired by the bosses when they report on it fairly.

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The demand all Americans should be making of our political system is objective systems of accountability. Every service should have measurable short and long term objectives, and each program should be required to report data showing their performance.

This is also why programs like Built for Zero show success - there are tons of organizations that are trying to alleviate housing problems but there is no unified system for participants so each program duplicates administrative work.

Your anger knows no bounds. You seem to be waiting to be outraged by something or someone you disagree with. People can have different views than you. Try not to be so narcissistic

https://preview.redd.it/sfwuvwrq361a1.jpeg?width=640&format=pjpg&auto=webp&v=enabled&s=6e516fcc533c0758bd5e74a1e5a4e21124ee7ea6

me, replying to dolts on the VT subreddits:

The not for profit world is very political. Just like everything else these days

This is why I do not want to be in a hotel if I cannot find housing down the road. It's below me and others who deserve better.

Yeah I mean, WHO does he think this program is for? You're going to have people who are struggling who may be disrespectful and uncaring because they're in an untenable situation. They may make messes, disrupt the lives of others and do copious amounts of drugs. However, they are still human and should still be off of the streets where they're less of a danger to the public.

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Neither is bowler but if this was a post about bowling and the OP described themselves as a bowler you'd have no objections.

I have no linking talent. But if you Google 'Seven Days: Kicked to the Curb' You'll get the article.

What a great and honest synopsis of this Circus. Thanks.

let the anger out.

Jimmy Carter's Habitat for Humanity has a presence here in VT that you might want to check out.

The terms for qualifying is provided in the website below. There is also a link section to find local resources. Some of the websites listed for VT aren't active but some are and it might be there are other means to contact them.

https://www.habitat.org/housing-help/apply

Hope this might prove helpful. Considering the housing crisis in VT, I'm surprised that there isn't more activity but I could well be out of the loop,

>I had to scroll past a mere two threads to find an American blaming the victim. I am Jack's complete lack of surprise. Americans are such a wicked and cruel people.

You obviously didn't read his whole comment, especially his conclusion. He specifically states that the issue is the program, those running it, and those taking advantage of it to remain the dregs of society. His complaint is not with those who want or need to use the program to help better themselves, but those who do not & actually make it hard for others.

Human rights shouldn't be conditional on using the program "to help better themselves." That's the whole problem! Who the hell do we think we are as a society, to place any demands on someone that we so graciously allowed to live in a dilapidated 150 sq ft room, anyway?

If you want to reform this program, take it out of the private sector. Seize the hotels for these violations, and tell the capitalists they're lucky we don't jail them for fraud. The private sector ghouls stealing $4000/mo in room fees are the only problem I see with this program. Should cost 1/10 of that, really. It's a shitty motel room, FFS.

I don't care if they're shooting heroin all day in that state funded room. Even with the brazen criminality of the private sector on display here, it's still a bargain compared to jail. Jail costs $10k a month.

I also don't care how much nuance that poster caged it in. Their core value underlying it all is they think some people are subhuman, that they don't deserve basic human rights, that housing is something to coerce others with. Always eating from the trashcan of ideology, we are.

The difference is that we can't save everybody, especially those who do not want to be saved. Tax dollars have to be prioritized, and while we should try to do as much as we can, if someone wants to live a deplorable life they should be let to & not at the expense of those who do not. The people who abuse these programs are the ones who give them a bad name so that the programs become the target for funding cuts. You are naïve if you think otherwise.

Oh, for fuck's sake. The scarcity is artificial. We are the richest country in the history of the world. We can afford to house people. The scarcity is artificial. We need to start deprioritizing capitalism instead of human rights. The problem is systemic.

No, what makes the programs a target for funding cuts is this neoliberal brainrot, that makes people think human rights are negotiable to the whims of the market. Print more money. Money isn't even real FFS.

Society has made a conscious choice, to allow a couple rich assholes to spend $44 billion on fucking Twitter by not outlawing billionaires, instead of guaranteeing human rights.

The most amazing part to me is, Housing First policies were pioneered by freaking Utah. You're unironically further right wing on housing policy than the goddamn Mormons. This isn't radical stuff. The status quo of unrestricted capitalism is what is radical.

I am really not looking forward to what liberals like you do when the scarcity isn't just make-believe numbers on a computer screen. You're gonna turn to eco-fascism so goddamn fast, I guarantee it.

Scratch a liberal and a fascist bleeds

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Very true

The Cortina Inn is particularly egregious. It boggles the mind that the State just let these people charge whatever they want.

You’re so right.

I empathize with your situation, and hope things work out for you.

I hate to ask, but what was the hotel’s rates prior to COVID? Since it’s 2022, I’m assuming these are long term guests? And since the guests were through a government program, I assume they can’t be evicted?

if the hotel’s rates were higher than $133.34 ($4000/30) a night, then the establishment would be losing money on these guests. If the hotel is losing money on guests that don’t leave, what incentive is there to provide good service? Good service has costs in labor and material. Can they recoup these costs at that rate?

What I imagined happened was that when COVID hit, and everyone stopped traveling, and the hotel was desperate for any income, and agreed (or were required) to accept any business they could get. This was even if it didn’t cover their costs, but just to remain in business. Now that things are getting back to normal, they have a number of unprofitable customers, that they cannot raise prices on to match the current rates.

From what I’ve seen, most business, including hotels, have very thin profit margins. They can’t charge more than local competitors without losing customers.

I applaud you for complaining to the alphabet soup of government agencies you mentioned about the conditions you have seen, as the hotel probably agreed to maintain services. Keep up the good work.

Have you reached out to any press? I sorry this has been your experience and admire your resilience.

The issue is not a lack of tax dollars. It's that politicians who are seen to be helping people voters don't want to associate with get voted out of office.

> Then there are the actual paying guests who visit these hotels.

I thought most of these places didn’t take paying guests once they started taking state guests. At least the hotels around where I am no longer take guests that are not from the state.

This is where you start by contacting every media outlet within a 250 mile radius.

Shame and outrage makes government move.