NEWFANE — Calijah Lindvall, from Brattleboro, was exited from the General Assistance (GA) Motel program, with the first round of Vermonters exited from their shelter on July 1. Just under two months later, he died of an overdose.
Calijah's death was both predictable and preventable. Now Vermont has the choice of whether to save other vulnerable Vermonters or to let many more fall to similar fates.
Calijah's mom, Keri Lindvall, was extremely concerned that her son was being destabilized. He suffered from complex mental illness and substance-use disorder. When offered $2,500 in exchange for his shelter, he was told that this was his only option and that he would no longer be allowed to return to the program if he took the money.
That was not accurate information, but also the correct information was not disseminated to him quickly enough to continue the stability that the program had offered him.
Calijah was my son Ajna's best friend in his littlest years. When his mom called me asking for help to keep him stable and sheltered, I tried to help. The system was just too big a barrier.
On Aug. 21, Calijah died of an overdose.
Calijah's death was a policy choice, and his story is not unique - about 1,000 Vermonters experiencing homelessness were put on the street that same day.
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On Sept. 23, the state of Vermont planned - again - to force another 540 people out of motels, leaving them with no shelter. At the 11th hour, and only after constant and persistent pressure, Gov. Scott extended the program for just 30 days.
Vermonters at risk of losing their shelter have a short reprieve, but they are being kept in a cycle of uncertainty and panic, fearing what will happen to them next.
For months, lived-experience experts, youth, and advocates have pushed for the governor's administration to fully reinstate the General Assistance Motel Program until the state is able to keep people safely and consistently housed.
On Sept. 20, Vermont Legal Aid held a press conference discussing the legality of ending the program and next steps should Vermonters currently utilizing the motels be left without shelter.
“My clients are terrified that losing shelter will mean they'll start to experience mental health declines, that gains that they've made in their recovery will be lost,” said Mairead O'Reilly, an attorney with Vermont Legal Aid.
“Many of them have conditions that put them at high risk for serious Covid-related complications if they are to be infected,” she said.
By the next day, Sept. 21, letters from advocates and others began to pour in. Early that Tuesday morning, I was copied on three letters: one from people with lived experience who used the program, one from motels themselves, and one from youth.
“For some of us, this was the first time we were able to connect to health services,” said the group of people experiencing homelessness in the letter spearheaded by Josh Lisenby, a lived-experience expert from Middlebury. He, too, was exited on July 1 and is staying in a shelter, still without a house of his own.
“A sense of self-worth is absolutely necessary for finding overall stability,” they continued. “Not worrying constantly about sleeping on the sidewalk or in a tent in the woods is vital in sustaining stability and mental health. It felt like being fully, wholly human again.”
In response, I came together with Legislative leaders and advocates, sending a letter to the governor urging him to extend the program.
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There is simply no reason for any Vermonter to be without shelter right now.
For months, the Scott administration has argued that the state had not had the resources to continue the program, but the Biden administration has announced that the federal government will fully reimburse the program through at least the end of the year.
Now, Gov. Scott's administration has been repeating at press conferences and to the legislative Joint Fiscal Committee that the problem is not money, but rather capacity - that too many hotels are unwilling to continue the program. And, “What about the tourists?”
It would seem that this narrative, too, is false: The second letter that I was copied on was one from those running 46 motels, who requested that the governor continue the program through the end of the year.
This request showed a strong willingness and desire to continue.
“We are all motel and hotel management from around the state who have participated in the GA Motel Program,” they began. “For the past year and a half, we have sheltered Vermonters experiencing homelessness during the pandemic. We have not only housed people, but we have become supports for and friends with clients staying here.”
“Many of us felt as if we did the most meaningful work alongside folks experiencing homelessness in this last year, helping house our community during a worldwide pandemic,” the hotel operators wrote.
On Sept. 17, Department of Children and Families Commissioner Sean Brown spoke to the Joint Fiscal Committee, a committee of members from both the House and the Senate which reviews financial issues affecting state government.
Brown did not relent on kicking people out of their shelter, saying now that the problem is not money. It was never money. I found this to be a jaw-dropping moment because he had, over and over again in press conference after press conference, said that the state doesn't have the money, that the program is not sustainable.
So if the problem was never money, then why were around 1,000 people exited from their shelter on July 1? If the problem was never money, then why was Calijah destabilized? Why then is Calijah no longer alive?
If the problem was never money, thaen why are we causing people to suffer even more? Why in a civilized society would we ever relegate people to the street, away from stability and support? Why would we in this state that prides itself on helping our neighbors allow someone to be put at risk of death?
Commissioner Brown went on to again blame the problem on capacity - a narrative that we now know is also false.
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The third letter that I was copied on was one from youth advocates. Signed by roughly 80 youth, including my son, this letter informed the governor, his administration, and all of us that in fact, the motels were game to continue.
One of the youth advocates, Addie Lentzner, from Bennington, had reached management of 62 of the motels. All but two said that they would continue the program if allowed to do so.
This letter ended with powerful words from our youth.
“We do not want to grow up in a state that turns a blind eye towards people who need support,” they wrote. “We do not want to grow up in a state that sticks with the status quo when there is overwhelming evidence and hundreds of advocates and state leaders saying we need to shift from that. We do not want to grow up in a state that doesn't care about people who are suffering.”
“It is far time that we changed our mindsets and made our state a model in addressing the homelessness crisis,” they continued. “We hope you, Gov. Scott, will take action before people leave the program on September 23rd. It is up to you.”
Following all of the advocacy that culminated in a fierce effort by several groups in the final hours before 540 more Vermonters were set to be sent away without shelter, the governor did finally relent with the 30-day extension.
He said that he hoped that “everyone could get on the same page.” He said that he thought we were, “but that appears to be fractured.”
After months of consistently saying that continuing the program would just not be possible, the governor was able to do just that. When asked what had changed in three days since he last made that claim, he simply responded that it was something he was able to do.
I fail to understand how the governor can justify putting people on the street. Vermont has a negligible vacancy rate - there is literally nowhere for people to go.
In a joint statement I made with Sen. Kesha Ram Hinsdale, Rep. Tanya Vyhovsky (Chittenden 8-1), and Jubilee McGill, housing advocate and former candidate for Vermont House, we expressed concern “that we are not fully reinstating the GA Motel program, and right now there are Vermonters living in tents and losing the stability and access to services that so many gained for the first time.”
“The GA Motel Program needs to again be expanded to include these Vermonters, as no Vermonter should have to experience homelessness,” we said.
The governor must fully reinstate the program - through the year's end at minimum - and accept federal funds available to do so.
He must commit to keeping people safely and consistently housed.
He must end the arbitrary and outdated 84-day rule - which limits people needing emergency housing to 84 days in a 12-month period - as that will put more of our neighbors at risk of freezing to death and suffering preventable harms.
Finally, he must cease the act of asking our community members to choose money over shelter. If we have the resources to offer financial support, we should - but not at the cost of someone's shelter.
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We can and must do better as a state. Our community members and neighbors deserve to be secure that they will not be thrown out on the street at the end of this 30 days. The administration should offer security to these residents of our state by letting them know that they will be able to stay while we find them safe and secure housing.
The governor's administration misleading the public and the Legislature - at the expense of our community members without homes - is unacceptable. We must hold them accountable for the harm caused, especially when people's lives and livelihoods are on the line.
I completely agree with the governor that we must all get on the same page. The majority of the state is on that same page - he's the one who is not.
We would love for Gov. Scott to join us on the side of humanity, economic stability, and prosperity to build back a Vermont even better than the one we had before. We are going to need him to work alongside us to make that happen.
In the meantime, no one deserves to be without shelter.
And no one deserves to die due to a policy choice.