This story, by Report for America corps member Carly Berlin, was produced through a partnership between VTDigger and Vermont Public.
BURLINGTON – As the number of people living outdoors in the Queen City swells and temperatures begin to drop, a new shelter will soon open its doors.
The Committee on Temporary Shelter, better known as COTS, is slated to open an expanded shelter downtown in early November. The organization ran a smaller seasonal shelter at the same location last winter, but has since renovated the space to add more beds and more privacy for guests.
Yet the couple dozen additional beds are still a drop in the bucket compared to the overwhelming need.
“There are still as many as 300 folks living rough on our streets today, and with winter fast approaching, we feel the urgency of expanding our city’s shelter capacity more than ever,” said Burlington Mayor Emma Mulvaney-Stanak at a ribbon cutting event on Monday.
COTS has dramatically transformed the interior of the old Social Security Administration building at 58 Pearl St. Days after acquiring the deed in January, the nonprofit lined up beds inside the former office space to accommodate guests; after the shelter closed in April, construction began in earnest. Now, the shelter features dorm-style sleeping areas, individual bathrooms, a fully-equipped kitchen with cafeteria-style seating, consultation rooms for meetings with caseworkers, laundry and secure storage.
It will also be able to accommodate nearly twice as many guests, with space for up to 56 people 18 years old and up. The shelter will also have six additional spots available for walk-ins on nights when winter weather is particularly harsh, according to Jonathan Farrell, COTS’ executive director.
It will be open only during evening hours; COTS has a daytime center for people experiencing homelessness a few blocks away on North Avenue. People seeking access to the shelter will need to register ahead of time; drop-ins will not typically be welcome.
The shelter will not be considered “low-barrier,” Farrell said. Guests will be expected to work toward a housing plan with caseworkers, and substances will not be allowed onsite, though “we also work with folks if they happen to slip,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Champlain Valley Office of Economic Opportunity is preparing to expand its low-barrier shelter on Shelburne Road for the winter season, accommodating 30 additional beds.
Yet even as more capacity comes online, Vermont’s largest city still faces a gap between the number of people living outdoors and available shelter space heading into the colder months — especially as stricter rules for accessing the state’s motel voucher program remain in place this winter.
To help bridge the need, the city plans to open additional shelter space during periods of extreme cold, according to Jen Monroe Zakaras, deputy chief of staff for Mayor Mulvaney-Stanak.
COTS’ renovation of the Pearl Street building cost about $1.8 million, according to Farrell. Funding came in part from the state’s Department for Children and Families and a crowdfunding campaign.
The organization plans to move the 36 guests at its current adult shelter on Church Street, where demand has outstripped capacity, to the new location in the coming weeks. It will ramp up to full capacity in early December, Farrell said. COTS then plans to convert the Church Street building into subsidized housing.
