This story, by Report for America corps member Carly Berlin and VTDigger reporter Greta Solsaa, was produced through a partnership between VTDigger and Vermont Public.
Chris Duprey was looking for a tent. One large enough to shelter his fiancée, his toddler and his 6-year-old kid.
It was time to check out of the Motel 6 in Colchester, where the family had lived for the better part of a year. They lost their manufactured home to the flood that swept through Plainfield last July, Duprey said. And now, the motel voucher that had allowed them to stay here was expiring.
“I’m hoping for a prayer right now,” said Duprey, 47, as he lingered in the motel parking lot on Tuesday morning. Packing up the room proved too painful. “We need a prayer.”
This latest round of evictions from the motel program has specifically targeted families with children and people with acute medical needs, like those who are homebound or receiving cancer treatment. It is the result of the expiration of an executive order that extended motel stays for those groups, deemed by Gov. Phil Scott’s administration as the most vulnerable to harm if they lost shelter.
Over 800 people — including nearly 300 children — were slated to exit the program on Tuesday, according to data provided by the Department for Children and Families. (An additional 138 people were scheduled to exit the program between June 23 and July 1 because their vouchers had timed out, according to the department.)
A back injury Duprey suffered after a fall while on a construction job had left him unable to work – and addicted to painkillers. He and his partner, Jessica Delary, 31, each had a criminal history stemming from a period when both struggled with substance use disorder, which proved a barrier to getting an apartment, he said.
But for over a year, both Duprey and Delarey had been in recovery. They were focused on staying clean for the sake of their kids. Last month, their toddler had celebrated his first birthday at the motel where he’d spent most of his life, with a little party under the trees at the edge of the asphalt. They had recently landed a rental voucher, and were waiting to hear if a landlord they’d spoken to would accept it, but nothing was final.
By 11 a.m., the couple had decided to pay $80 out of pocket to stay at the motel one more night. They’d been calling around to service providers trying to find a tent, and hadn’t landed one yet. Purchasing one themselves would eat into the $900 a month they survive on from state welfare funds. And then there was the cost of paying for a campsite with water and electricity during the peak summer season.
“We can’t even afford a campground,” Duprey said.
State action
The executive order, signed by Gov. Scott in late March, granted a three-month extension for families with children and people with acute medical needs who were sheltered in motels “to allow time for DCF to ensure” they have access to services and supports needed to transition to a long-term housing, shelter, or health care placement.
Without the order, those groups would have faced eviction when the motel program’s more flexible winter rules ended for the season in April. Democratic leaders in the Legislature had sought an extension for everyone sheltered through the program at that time, but Scott, a Republican, twice vetoed their effort — opting instead to protect a much narrower cohort his administration deemed most vulnerable.
Yet homelessness advocates had not anticipated a mass exodus upon the executive order’s expiration. Because the order stated that existing time limits on motel stays “shall be waived” between April and June, they expected people would have more days left to use after the order lifted, forestalling the next wave of evictions until later this year.
But DCF sent out notices in early June specifying that nights sheltered under the order would in fact count towards each individual’s 80-day clock.
In recent days, service providers, Burlington city leaders and several lawmakers have issued letters to Scott imploring him to rescind those early-June notices, effectively giving motel residents more time in shelter. They have also called upon the governor to declare a state of emergency and direct officials to create shelters for people exiting the motels, among other demands.
So far, Scott has not taken action. A spokesperson for his office told VTDigger/Vermont Public in mid-June that he did not intend to extend the executive order.
Miranda Gray, deputy commissioner of DCF’s economic services division, said in an email that the department is encouraging people slated to lose their motel rooms to connect with local housing agencies. State employees and contracted case managers “have been working with the households housed under the [executive order] to identify plans for July 1st,” Gray said.
DCF has not provided data on how many households it has helped ensure alternative accommodations for past June 30.
Last fall when Vermont saw a wave of families evicted from motels, the state opened a new family shelter at the Waterbury Armory. State officials shut it down on June 13. Asked if officials are considering reopening the shelter, Gray said that “all potential opportunities, including those involving existing facilities, are considered as part of this ongoing effort to expand safe and appropriate shelter capacity.”
Overnight parking and tents
In at least one instance, a municipality is preparing to offer a sanctioned location for people to park their vehicles and sleep overnight.
On July 4, the city of Burlington will begin allowing up to twelve vehicles to park overnight at Perkins Pier, at the foot of Maple Street along the city’s waterfront. Individuals will need to get a permit from the city by noon on the 3rd in order to begin using the site the following day, said Sarah Russell, Burlington’s special assistant to end homelessness.
Those interested in using the site can reach out to Russell directly at 802-829-6326 or srussell@burlingtonvt.gov Monday-Friday. People will need to vacate the lot during the daytime. The city plans to install an ADA-accessible porta-potty onsite, but the site does not have access to electricity or running water.
Russell called the sanctioned parking area a “pilot” project and a “harm reduction strategy.” Last fall, the city offered campsites at North Beach to families exiting motels, but now the popular campground is booked for the season, she said.
In Burlington and elsewhere, service providers are handing out tents to people in need.
At the Econo Lodge in Rutland Tuesday morning, Brenda Siegel, executive director of End Homelessness Vermont, offered supplies for people exiting the motel voucher program like tents, sleeping bags, blankets and tarps that the organization had purchased.
End Homelessness Vermont and other emergency providers have been “repetitively drained” after each motel exit, Siegel said. The need around the state far outweighs the resources the organization has available to give to the unhoused, she said.
“Their likelihood of survival is not high. I think they should at least have the right to get to and through a fair hearing to appeal this,” Siegel said. “Our system is failing, because it really means that it’s impossible for people to argue for their rights, and that’s not what should be happening right now. We should have a system that works.”
Casey Stevens, 38, of Rutland, said she had been staying at the Econo Lodge for six months after staying at hotels through the motel voucher program intermittently for a year and half.
Stevens said she finds it unfair to be required to exit the hotel without sufficient time to figure out her plan. She did not know where she would be staying the night Tuesday, she said, but had reached out to BROC Community Action to inquire about shelter for the next few days.
Stevens gained sobriety with the help of the organization Better Life Partners in Rutland and was in the process of interviewing for jobs, she said. She was planning to earn her bookkeeping certificate, but exiting the hotel may jeopardize her progress on those goals, she said.
“Being able to be here has helped me become sober. I secured my plan. I actually signed up to go back to school this fall,” Stevens said. “I fear losing it all again.”
