Submitted by DaddyBobMN t3_10wwuwu in vermont
Necessary_Cat_4801 t1_j7ppzye wrote
Reply to comment by 1010lala1010lala in Vermont’s rates of homelessness are (almost) the worst in the country by DaddyBobMN
This is not a statistical error. The Point in Time count runs every January, and if you look at the other states that ranked high in homelessness, it tracks. This is real.
Kixeliz t1_j7psrxu wrote
It relies on people self-identifying as homeless, with all the stigma and shame that comes with that. It can't count people surfing on couches nor someone who just became homeless the day after the count was done. The people doing these counts admit its a flawed system, you don't need to defend it.
Necessary_Cat_4801 t1_j7pv4yn wrote
I'm not defending the count, sorry that was unclear. Not all of what you say is true but my point is not to defend the count, my point is to counter the denial in this thread that the problem isn't real.
Kixeliz t1_j7pwbhb wrote
The person you're responding to wasn't saying the problem isn't real, seemed to me they were complaining about the shit system we have to try and measure the problem. It's been called a snapshot by others and advocates don't see much value in the count, but it's the only way to get HUD funding so they play along.
Necessary_Cat_4801 t1_j7pxazy wrote
It seems that people are shocked that we are ranked so high and want to minimize it.
Kixeliz t1_j7py7gu wrote
I'm sure there is some of that at play, as well. It's something I see quite a bit in Chittenden County, too. Vermont offers services other states don't which draws people here to use those services. Then the naysayers (conservatives) get to point out how big of a failure the services were because demand was too high and grew the homeless population here. It's easier to say "look at all the problems your services caused" than "if everywhere offered these services, there wouldn't be such a concentration here."
Necessary_Cat_4801 t1_j7pyouo wrote
And the weird part of this is advocates have a perverse incentive to go along and paint it as a local problem rather than a national problem. They will minimize the people coming from out of state, even going so far as to say that people who are homeless in Burlington are from Burlington as opposed to Rutland, for example. Obviously the reason is the pushback against helping outsiders, so it's portrayed as a local issue when it really isn't.
Kixeliz t1_j7pzf7i wrote
It's easier to sell helping your neighbor down on his luck than a dude from Missouri who just showed up looking for help. People should just be people, but as this sub routinely shows, a good portion of people in this state will only give a shit if they think you're a "real Vermonter."
Necessary_Cat_4801 t1_j7pzwwf wrote
Well, there's a reason for that. Gentrification is making it very difficult for regular people to live here. Obviously that is far from the only factor but when a bunch of people with money show up at the same time it's almost impossible to find housing, people are going to be pissed. That's not a surprise to me. The gentrification is certainly contributing to homelessness, particularly family homelessness, because families typically have access to vouchers and can find housing if it's available. There are other huge problems like Act 250 and NIMBYism but covid era gentrification has hurt Vermont's ability to house its most vulnerable.
Kixeliz t1_j7q0e5l wrote
That and humans are tribalistic by nature, something we still haven't been able to work around in 2023.
Necessary_Cat_4801 t1_j7q10f7 wrote
What I hear is a lot of frustration with VT turning into a version of Aspen. In my opinion, people and politicians ignore that frustration at their peril.
I think rich people moving here to work from home is creating a boring, stuffy, homogenous VT that is becoming a difficult, terrible place to live. On the flip side of that, if someone wants to move here from Ohio to be a teacher, or work in a local business, that's great. Please come. For me it's not about tribalism, it's about VT being a place for more than one group of people.
1010lala1010lala t1_j7q6out wrote
Thanks for the response. The article didn't include info about past years, so it wasn't clear to me if it was an anomaly or not. And if it was a significant difference from before the pandemic then I'd suggest housing the homeless is a really great way to keep track of the problem .
I also want to make it clear that I'm not trying to minimize the scope of the problem. Even if Vermont were 43rd instead of 3rd, 2000 people homeless is 2000 too many.
Necessary_Cat_4801 t1_j7qerjy wrote
Yeah, apologies. Rereading some of the comments, some people who are saying inaccurate are saying it's an under count. No argument on that.
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