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headgasketidiot t1_j7pqanx wrote

Reply to comment by TheTowerBard in Vermont’s rates of homelessness are (almost) the worst in the country by DaddyBobMN

> The idea of dumping money into landlord's hands "in exchange for temporarily keeping rents affordable and prioritizing people exiting homelessness" is completely insane. We need permanent affordable housing. This program would pay for repairs for the people who are partially responsible for the problem in the first place. It's completely bonkers.

Could not agree more! Landlords are raising prices so we're going to give them money so that they stop raising prices? This is your brain on neoliberalism, and exactly the kind of color-inside-the-lines thinking I have come to expect from the Scott administration. If you keep going in that paragraph in the article, it's even more frustrating:

>The high number of Vermonters who are unhoused but sheltered is also an indicator of a likely crisis to come. For now, the state is relying on motels and hotels to temporarily house the vast majority of people who are unhoused. But to do this, it has been using the large — but temporary — infusions of federal cash that flowed into the state during the pandemic, and state officials now estimate that these pots of money will run dry March 31.

Vermont had a one-time opportunity with a temporary infusion of federal cash, and we gave it to landlords. Awesome. It's almost like half the legislature are landlords or something.

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Necessary_Cat_4801 t1_j7pvlps wrote

A lot of the cash was through the Emergency Rental Assistance Program. It had to go to landlords, it was a condition of the funding.

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headgasketidiot t1_j7q2l8d wrote

You're right. The hotel voucher is our own homegrown landlord giveaway, whereas this is a federally mandated landlord giveaway. So many wonderful landlord welfare programs.

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Necessary_Cat_4801 t1_j7q3210 wrote

The hotel voucher program is not a landlord welfare program, it's what the legislature prefers to do rather than build housing.

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headgasketidiot t1_j7q3klb wrote

Landlord welfare program with more steps.

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Necessary_Cat_4801 t1_j7qf1he wrote

How are payments to motel 6, quality inn, etc a landlord welfare program? These are hotels, not landlords. The payments go to hotels because they're aren't apartments to put people in.

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headgasketidiot t1_j7qhwj0 wrote

Many of these hotels are not viable as businesses otherwise. Sometimes they go to places like motel 6 and quality inn, but usually it's places like the Shady Lawn in WRJ, which at this point is functionally a substandard apartment complex for people with state temporary housing vouchers.

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Necessary_Cat_4801 t1_j7qig4x wrote

Absolutely. I was just debating that the people being paid are landlords. They are not, they're hotel owners.

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headgasketidiot t1_j7qiwrn wrote

Ah I see. Yeah, I was being a little cheeky, but you really only need to squint a little to see it that way.

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TheTowerBard t1_j7pqnfa wrote

VT is grotesquely corrupt. Ugh.

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NoMidnight5366 t1_j7pu938 wrote

Vermont is not corrupt—it’s one of the most transparent states when it comes to governing. And I’m very proud of our state despite its shortcomings.

Government programs while often necessary are always inefficient and partially effective. And legislations is often poorly written to prevent these problems.

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TheTowerBard t1_j7pyv1e wrote

VT towns are EXTREMELY corrupt. State level might be slightly less so, but oh boy are you being incredibly naïve if you believe what you typed here. That, or you're a landlord. You're a landlord aren't you?

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