Post by the Scribe on Feb 13, 2021 9:32:42 GMT
One of hundreds of places Linda visited along the way.
A growing option to booking rooms for the homeless: Buying the motel
vtdigger.org/2021/02/07/a-growing-option-to-booking-rooms-for-the-homeless-buying-the-motel/
By Kevin O'Connor
Feb 7 2021
Brattleboro’s 22-unit Great River Terrace apartment complex was once the Lamplighter motel. Photo by Kevin O’Connor/VTDigger
BRATTLEBORO — Ask advocates for the homeless about the state’s emergency motel voucher program, which is now sheltering 2,500 Vermonters at a federally funded rate of some $150,000 a night, and they’ll tell you it’s a short-term solution to a long-term problem.
“Motels are a stopgap, not a fix,” said Josh Davis, executive director of Brattleboro’s Groundworks Collaborative, whose motto promises “basic needs met with dignity.”
groundworksvt.org/
“The big question now,” he said, “is how do we move folks into housing?”
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His nonprofit’s answer: Join a growing list of Vermont human service organizations going from booking overnight accommodations to buying motels outright to turn into permanent apartments.
“It’s an opportunity to get people into housing,” Davis said, “and provide services to ensure they remain.”
The state, aiming to stop Covid-19 from spreading in homeless encampments, is currently housing nearly 2,200 adults and 400 children in 70 motels and hotels from Brattleboro to Burlington — a feat that is costing some $4.5 million in federal funds a month.
“Vermont was really ahead of the curve on this, and we are fortunate to live in a state that has prioritized shelter,” Davis said. “We have interrupted homelessness as a foregone conclusion — a bright spot that should be celebrated in this pandemic.”
But government can’t afford to fully fund vouchers forever, he said. The eventual end of the state program could send some 200 people now in Brattleboro motels back onto the streets because the town’s affordable housing availability is as low as 1%.
Workers renovate the former Dalem’s Chalet motel in West Brattleboro into an apartment building renamed “The Chalet.” Photo by Kevin O’Connor/VTDigger
To change that, Groundworks has teamed with the Windham & Windsor Housing Trust to purchase the old Dalem’s Chalet motel in the village of West Brattleboro for a new 35-unit permanent supportive housing community.
www.homemattershere.org/
VTDigger is underwritten by:
Thank You - Brown - ROS - 970 x 250
“It’s really challenging to move people from motels into housing, just given the limited stock,” Davis said. “The fact that we’re able to bring new units online is nothing short of amazing.”
The local plan has tapped $2.3 million from a state pool of nearly $33 million in federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act money targeted for the initiative.
“There are unprecedented resources right now, so we’re trying to utilize those,” Davis said. “Typically these projects develop over years, but this has moved at blistering speed.”
The former Dalem’s Chalet motel in West Brattleboro is now as a 35-unit “permanent supportive housing community” renamed “The Chalet.” Photo by Kevin O’Connor/VTDigger
Planners eyed the half-century-old alpine lodge last summer and purchased it from 93-year-old founder Ursula Dalem last fall. In its heyday, according to the former owner, Dalem’s Chalet was a stop for celebrities such as singer Linda Ronstadt and CBS News “On the Road” reporter Charles Kuralt.
“It has been a bit of a wild ride,” Elizabeth Bridgewater, executive director of the housing trust, said at a recent Brattleboro Selectboard meeting. “We’ve had a very short window to pull all the pieces in place, but I think we’re doing something important in an otherwise stressful time.”
Contractors have renovated “The Chalet” with energy-efficient doors and windows, a fire alarm and sprinkler system and fresh paint, flooring, furniture and fixtures. Social workers are arranging for rental subsidies as well as support for homeless people who often wrestle with physical, mental or addiction issues.
The Brattleboro plan is part of a new statewide trend. Groundworks and the housing trust teamed up four years ago to turn Brattleboro’s former Lamplighter motel into the 22-unit Great River Terrace apartment complex.
vtdigger.org/2017/07/14/brattleboro-housing-complex-aid-homeless/
Burlington’s ANEW Place shelter, for its part, purchased the Champlain Inn with federal funds last fall to offer free rooms for the homeless year-round.
www.anewplacevt.org/
vtdigger.org/2020/10/26/anew-place-finds-a-new-home-at-champlain-inn/
And the Champlain Housing Trust, which bought Shelburne’s Econo Lodge in 2013, recently purchased the former Baymont Inn and Suites in Essex, Handy’s Extended Stay Suites in Colchester and Ho Hum Motel in South Burlington with similar money to host a variety of programs.
www.getahome.org/
State officials caution the projects won’t eliminate the problem.
“We have been able to house many who were living temporarily in motels,” said Jennifer Hollar, director of policy and special projects at the Vermont Housing & Conservation Board, “but as the pandemic has gone on, more Vermonters are becoming homeless.”
That said, the motel purchases are making a dent.
“The state’s allocation of these resources,” Champlain Housing Trust Chief Operating Officer Michael Monte said in a statement, “is helping address this significant need to address people’s safety and health in the midst of a pandemic.”
Human service providers say the coronavirus has changed their game plan in once unimaginable ways. A year ago, Groundworks, after moving its usual Brattleboro seasonal overflow shelter each winter from building to building, began construction on a new $3.3 million downtown headquarters to provide a permanent place for daytime support services and overnight accommodations. The facility is set to open this spring.
vtdigger.org/2019/11/25/brattleboro-seeks-money-for-3-3-million-homeless-shelter/
“The new building now feels like a back-burner project compared to everything else that’s going on,” Davis said.
The Windham & Windsor Housing Trust, for its part, has launched a Re-housing Recovery Program to help private landlords create rental units. Together with the Chalet, that initiative is projected to add up to 90 new housing units to the Brattleboro area.
“I think Vermont is a shining beacon in the country right now,” Bridgewater said of the state’s collective efforts. “Especially now, when it is abundantly clear that the health of our community is deeply connected with the health of every community member — everyone needs a safe place to call home.”
Planners eyed the half-century-old alpine lodge last summer and purchased it from 93-year-old founder Ursula Dalem last fall. In its heyday, according to the former owner, Dalem’s Chalet was a stop for celebrities such as singer Linda Ronstadt and CBS News “On the Road” reporter Charles Kuralt.
A growing option to booking rooms for the homeless: Buying the motel
vtdigger.org/2021/02/07/a-growing-option-to-booking-rooms-for-the-homeless-buying-the-motel/
By Kevin O'Connor
Feb 7 2021
Brattleboro’s 22-unit Great River Terrace apartment complex was once the Lamplighter motel. Photo by Kevin O’Connor/VTDigger
BRATTLEBORO — Ask advocates for the homeless about the state’s emergency motel voucher program, which is now sheltering 2,500 Vermonters at a federally funded rate of some $150,000 a night, and they’ll tell you it’s a short-term solution to a long-term problem.
“Motels are a stopgap, not a fix,” said Josh Davis, executive director of Brattleboro’s Groundworks Collaborative, whose motto promises “basic needs met with dignity.”
groundworksvt.org/
“The big question now,” he said, “is how do we move folks into housing?”
Get all of VTDigger's daily news.
You'll never miss a story with our daily headlines in your inbox.
His nonprofit’s answer: Join a growing list of Vermont human service organizations going from booking overnight accommodations to buying motels outright to turn into permanent apartments.
“It’s an opportunity to get people into housing,” Davis said, “and provide services to ensure they remain.”
The state, aiming to stop Covid-19 from spreading in homeless encampments, is currently housing nearly 2,200 adults and 400 children in 70 motels and hotels from Brattleboro to Burlington — a feat that is costing some $4.5 million in federal funds a month.
“Vermont was really ahead of the curve on this, and we are fortunate to live in a state that has prioritized shelter,” Davis said. “We have interrupted homelessness as a foregone conclusion — a bright spot that should be celebrated in this pandemic.”
But government can’t afford to fully fund vouchers forever, he said. The eventual end of the state program could send some 200 people now in Brattleboro motels back onto the streets because the town’s affordable housing availability is as low as 1%.
Workers renovate the former Dalem’s Chalet motel in West Brattleboro into an apartment building renamed “The Chalet.” Photo by Kevin O’Connor/VTDigger
To change that, Groundworks has teamed with the Windham & Windsor Housing Trust to purchase the old Dalem’s Chalet motel in the village of West Brattleboro for a new 35-unit permanent supportive housing community.
www.homemattershere.org/
VTDigger is underwritten by:
Thank You - Brown - ROS - 970 x 250
“It’s really challenging to move people from motels into housing, just given the limited stock,” Davis said. “The fact that we’re able to bring new units online is nothing short of amazing.”
The local plan has tapped $2.3 million from a state pool of nearly $33 million in federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act money targeted for the initiative.
“There are unprecedented resources right now, so we’re trying to utilize those,” Davis said. “Typically these projects develop over years, but this has moved at blistering speed.”
The former Dalem’s Chalet motel in West Brattleboro is now as a 35-unit “permanent supportive housing community” renamed “The Chalet.” Photo by Kevin O’Connor/VTDigger
Planners eyed the half-century-old alpine lodge last summer and purchased it from 93-year-old founder Ursula Dalem last fall. In its heyday, according to the former owner, Dalem’s Chalet was a stop for celebrities such as singer Linda Ronstadt and CBS News “On the Road” reporter Charles Kuralt.
“It has been a bit of a wild ride,” Elizabeth Bridgewater, executive director of the housing trust, said at a recent Brattleboro Selectboard meeting. “We’ve had a very short window to pull all the pieces in place, but I think we’re doing something important in an otherwise stressful time.”
Contractors have renovated “The Chalet” with energy-efficient doors and windows, a fire alarm and sprinkler system and fresh paint, flooring, furniture and fixtures. Social workers are arranging for rental subsidies as well as support for homeless people who often wrestle with physical, mental or addiction issues.
The Brattleboro plan is part of a new statewide trend. Groundworks and the housing trust teamed up four years ago to turn Brattleboro’s former Lamplighter motel into the 22-unit Great River Terrace apartment complex.
vtdigger.org/2017/07/14/brattleboro-housing-complex-aid-homeless/
Burlington’s ANEW Place shelter, for its part, purchased the Champlain Inn with federal funds last fall to offer free rooms for the homeless year-round.
www.anewplacevt.org/
vtdigger.org/2020/10/26/anew-place-finds-a-new-home-at-champlain-inn/
And the Champlain Housing Trust, which bought Shelburne’s Econo Lodge in 2013, recently purchased the former Baymont Inn and Suites in Essex, Handy’s Extended Stay Suites in Colchester and Ho Hum Motel in South Burlington with similar money to host a variety of programs.
www.getahome.org/
State officials caution the projects won’t eliminate the problem.
“We have been able to house many who were living temporarily in motels,” said Jennifer Hollar, director of policy and special projects at the Vermont Housing & Conservation Board, “but as the pandemic has gone on, more Vermonters are becoming homeless.”
That said, the motel purchases are making a dent.
“The state’s allocation of these resources,” Champlain Housing Trust Chief Operating Officer Michael Monte said in a statement, “is helping address this significant need to address people’s safety and health in the midst of a pandemic.”
Human service providers say the coronavirus has changed their game plan in once unimaginable ways. A year ago, Groundworks, after moving its usual Brattleboro seasonal overflow shelter each winter from building to building, began construction on a new $3.3 million downtown headquarters to provide a permanent place for daytime support services and overnight accommodations. The facility is set to open this spring.
vtdigger.org/2019/11/25/brattleboro-seeks-money-for-3-3-million-homeless-shelter/
“The new building now feels like a back-burner project compared to everything else that’s going on,” Davis said.
The Windham & Windsor Housing Trust, for its part, has launched a Re-housing Recovery Program to help private landlords create rental units. Together with the Chalet, that initiative is projected to add up to 90 new housing units to the Brattleboro area.
“I think Vermont is a shining beacon in the country right now,” Bridgewater said of the state’s collective efforts. “Especially now, when it is abundantly clear that the health of our community is deeply connected with the health of every community member — everyone needs a safe place to call home.”