BURLINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) – The city of Burlington is stepping up to help families moving out of state-funded hotels and motels. Twelve campsites at North Beach are available for those who need them and the city is asking for help with donations.
It allows families to have temporary shelter as the state-funded program ends, but leaders say this is only a temporary solution to a much larger problem.
Officials in Burlington are all in on an effort to get families shelter after the end of the state hotel-motel program.
Many say they can’t find affordable housing and have children with disabilities who need special care.
“Our hope is to provide a small sense of some kind of stability to these families with children while we work on advocacy measures at the state level,” said Sarah Russell, Burlington’s Special Assistant to End Homelessness.
Advocates have already received several donations and are asking for camping items like tents, flashlights, sleeping bags and water jugs. Feeding Chittenden will provide food to families for the time being.
“So that’s not even scratching the surface of the number of people who are experiencing homelessness, who are unhoused right now. We’re just trying to do what we can for as many people that we can,” said Travis Poulin of the Champlain Valley Office of Economic Opportunity.
But the camping is only temporary while the city figures out the next steps. On Oct. 15 the North Beach Campground closes and many families will have to turn to emergency shelters.
City officials hope the state will reinstate the hotel-motel program or another option for families needing shelter, at least until more permanent housing becomes available.
“As much stress that service providers feel, I can’t even imagine what it must feel like to be a family or to be someone who’s in this situation,” Russell said.
Camping is not how James Ouimette says he expected to be living with his family, but he says it’s the only option.
“We are the most vulnerable of vulnerable,” he said.
Ouimette is living in a tent with his wife and two kids, both of whom have learning disabilities, at the North Beach Campground. The father and husband doing what he can to stay strong for his family.
“Just trying to get through my days and it’s quite difficult,” he said.
This was the option the family was given after their eligibility for the state-run motel program expired. They are staying in one of the dozen campsites at North Beach the city set aside for displaced families.
Ouimette sought WCAX News out to share his story publicly, hoping more can be done.
Reporter Ike Bendavid: Is this what the state should be doing– putting families in tents?
James Ouimette: I think they could be doing better.
He says the family ended up homeless after a no-cause eviction and they have been looking nonstop to find housing. Ouimette says the issue is there are no units available.
“Just trying to better our situation and find permanent, stable housing,” he said.
Questions remain about what’s next as the nights are getting colder.
“To be honest with you, too, it’s getting cold, it’s getting colder now. And waking up at three, three-thirty in the morning freezing just to get a fire going till the sun peeks at seven is probably one of the most difficult parts about it,” Ouimette said.
We also know that even though there is this very limited reserved camping for those who need it at North Beach, there are dozens of people currently camping throughout the city in public spaces. As some are looking for permanent shelter, multiple people told WCAX News that’s where they want to be and they plan to stay through the winter.