Op-ed: Shelter isn’t charity. It’s public safety.

Read the op-ed by visiting vtdigger.org.

Six years ago, as Covid-19 tore through Vermont, the Champlain Valley Office of Economic Opportunity was asked to do something we’d never done before: open a shelter. What began as low-barrier, family and recovery shelters quickly became the state’s largest pandemic shelter, welcoming people experiencing homelessness from communities across Vermont.

Our staff worked around the clock under extraordinarily difficult circumstances. They showed up every day to care for people who had nowhere else to go. Alongside emergency responders, healthcare professionals and public safety personnel, they helped protect some of the state’s most vulnerable residents during a moment of profound uncertainty. They were heroes, as were shelter providers, outreach workers and emergency responders across the state. Their work demonstrated that care for vulnerable people is not separate from public health or public safety. It is an essential part of both.

My belief is simple: Moral responsibility, public health and public safety are not mutually exclusive goals when it comes to homelessness and sheltering. They are reinforcing obligations. When we provide safe shelter and services to those experiencing homelessness, we honor human dignity, improve public health outcomes and strengthen our communities.

The discussion about where shelters should be located, how they should operate and who is responsible for homelessness is not new. It is a conversation that has existed for decades and one that will almost certainly continue. We understand that shelters can have impacts on the communities where they are located. That is why we engage with communities, seek input, discuss concerns openly, proceed transparently and then make decisions about where shelters may be developed.

Often, we are balancing competing needs: the immediate needs of individuals experiencing homelessness, the broader needs of our communities and state, and the concerns of the neighborhoods and towns where shelters may be located. These questions are not easy to navigate, and they are questions all of us, as a state, will need to continue addressing together.

The number of people experiencing homelessness in Vermont has grown dramatically in recent years. Much of this increase can be attributed to a lack of affordable housing, rising costs, increasing mental health and substance use challenges, and diminished capacity throughout our mental health, recovery and residential support systems.

When we consider shelter development today, we consider the needs of the entire community and the state. Shelters with integrated services support individuals during some of the most difficult moments of their lives while also helping businesses, emergency services and neighbors who are often most affected by the challenges associated with unsheltered homelessness. Shelters are not only expressions of care and compassion; they are important components of public health and public safety.

As a society, we do not want to see homelessness. That much seems clear. Yet too often our frustration is directed primarily toward those experiencing homelessness themselves and how their struggles appear in our communities. At the same time, we can overlook the broader conditions that contribute to homelessness, including the lack of housing, untreated mental illness, substance use disorders, poverty and the erosion of support systems that once helped people remain stable.

The larger question is whether we believe we are morally responsible for one another, regardless of a person’s circumstances, productivity or perceived success. Are we willing to notice, value and care for those who are most vulnerable? Can we recognize the dignity and worth of every person without tying that worth to our expectations of who they should be? Can we see ourselves in others, understanding that vulnerability is not something that belongs only to someone else?

Ultimately, shelters are about more than beds and buildings. They are about who we choose to be as a community. They represent our willingness to recognize the dignity of every person, protect public health and strengthen public safety. These are not competing values. They are intertwined responsibilities.

I believe Vermont is at its best when we recognize that caring for the most vulnerable among us is not separate from caring for our communities. It is one and the same. The challenge before us is not whether we will choose between moral responsibility, public health and public safety. It is whether we will embrace all three and act with the courage, compassion and shared responsibility that this moment requires.