The House and Senate have not yet reconciled their plans for next year’s state budget, but both chambers have advanced spending proposals that would provide shelter for only some 150 households in any given month. Currently, 1,800 households roughly 2,500 people live in motels.
With nowhere else to go and even fewer rights than a typical renter Vermonters relying on a state-run program for shelter have had little recourse when they’ve run into poor treatment or conditions.
On a tiny, wooded strip of city-owned land called Garvey Woods, a campsite was visible just north of the Community Lutheran Church on South Burlington’s Williston Road.