By Katy Savage
Funding for homeless housing assistance and rental assistance is drying up, leaving thousands of people in search of permanent options in a very tight housing market. And while the need is still high, hotel owners, who have taken in homeless, are questioning if their participation in the program was worth it.
“We all have to understand that there are bad elements,” Corina Inn owner Ravi Bhakta said.
Bhakta, who was one of the first participants in the program, houses the highest population of homeless in Rutland town. All 150 rooms of his inn were full at one point. Bhakta now has around 111 homeless people at the Cortina Inn. Bhakta also owns the 60-room Quality Inn in Rutland city, where he is housing about 40 homeless people.
Both Bhakta’s businesses have seen a significant increase in police calls. Leaders in Rutland town threatened to make Bhakta apply for a new permit for his business. Rutland city police and fire have responded to multiple drug-related activities and noise disturbances at Bhakta’s Quality Inn over the past two years.
“It’s become a terrible burden both for our departments and for the people and businesses in that area,” Rutland Mayor David Allaire said.
Allaire briefly shut the Quality Inn down at one point due to health concerns and said he started having monthly meetings with Bhakta to discuss the issues six months ago. Allaire said the problem has decreased since then, but the large number of homeless remain.
Bhakta admitted he’s had a few calls from police saying his guests were involved in robberies.
“Initially it was very tough to recognize these people,” said Bhakta, explaining the state offered no help with criminal background checks. Bhakta took his own initiative by kicking people out of his inn. Guests retaliated by kicking hotel doors, smashing televisions and breaking walls.
“They try to break anything, they get mad,” he said. “People are not in the right state of mind.”
The homeless program has been funded through the Federal Emergency Management Agency since the start of the pandemic as the demand for shelter skyrocketed. The state spent about $90 million on emergency shelter over the past two years, an increase of $1.4 million that was spent about 10 years ago, when hotel vouchers were reserved for people displaced by disasters, people experiencing poverty and victims of domestic violence. The initiate was attractive to hotel owners, who were paid about $110 per night for each voucher at a time when visitation to the state was limited.
According to state records, there were about 12,000 Vermonters in the rental assistance program in October and about 1,460 homeless households staying at hotels as of Oct. 3, a slight decrease from the 2,500 households enrolled in the homeless program at the height of the pandemic. The state made changes to the program in July, allowing homeless Vermonters to continue staying at hotels for up to 18 months.
Bhakta said he’ll no longer take in homeless when the program expires in March 2023. He estimated he’ll need to spend $2 million at the Cortina Inn when the homeless move out to clean carpets and mattresses and replace walls, refrigerators and microwaves. He’ll also re-brand the inn and make improvements to the exterior.
“The hotels are meant for the late night check- in and they’re gone in the morning, but these people are staying for 24/7,” Bhakta said. “It’s a heavy duty load on the rooms. Honestly, if you look at the end of the day, it is not worth it.”
Bhakta’s properties are among 76 hotels currently participating in the program statewide. Other local properties include Happy Bear Motel in Killington, the Killington Pico Motor Inn in Mendon, Val Roc Motel in Killington, the Brandon Motor Lodge, Best Western in Rutland, Econo Lodge in Rutland, Highlander Inn in Rutland, Rodeway Inn in Rutland and Pine Tree Lodge in Rutland.
Val Roc owner Daniel Farbman said he had little success with the homeless program and helped people “just for a night or two.”
“I tried to be part of that but it didn’t work out,” Farbman said, declining to say more. Despite some of the pitfalls, Bhakta said most of his long-term guests have become like family. Most of them are now working with a caseworker. “Slowly, they’re moving out as they’re finding permanent housing,” Bhakta said, explaining permanent housing was always the goal, and a better option for the guests.
