BURLINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) – A winter warming shelter will likely be operating in Burlington this year out of the old Social Security office building on Pearl Street.
COTS is still working out the project with the city.
This would be a low-barrier emergency shelter. meaning shelter users would not be screened for substance use. Once the winter is over, COTS will make this building their new way-station a permanent overnight shelter.
The Pearl Street building has more than 50 beds, about 20 more than the current waystation on lower Church Street.
“We are excited about offering more. This is what we do day in and day out. As I said, we have about four decades of doing this as an agency, so it’s an exciting prospect to be able to offer more. We know that the need is so big right now, but we’re very happy that we can step up and address some more of the need in the community,” said COTS executive director Jonathan Farrell.
COTS says it hopes the shelter will be ready in time for the cold weather.