Dear Editor,
Recently, a Chittenden County Superior Court judge handed down a decision siding with the state against the plaintiffs in a case brought by Vermont Legal Aid on behalf of those who are living unhoused (a.k.a. homeless) and had been evicted from motels during the middle of March.
Although I disagree with the decision by the judge, I agree with the statement made toward the end of it: Parties on all sides of this case, “could work together to design a big-picture approach to the problem rather than continuing to cobble together short-term solutions while in crisis mode.”
In fact, while thinking upon these and related matters myself, prior to the judge’s decision being handed down, this is, generally speaking, the conclusion I had reached as well.
Finding a better way to meaningfully and seriously address homelessness within the state long-term has been handled by all sides as nothing more than a political football.
Everyone is looking to someone else to figure it out, come up with a plan and act first.
What both the administration and the Legislature have been doing up to now has been rather haphazard, lacking any actual, coherent, real, significant and workable action plan to move forward with.
Given that this seemingly formidable task could take a while to accomplish, one might ask what is one to do in the meantime?
One solution that comes to mind might be to have high-level representatives from each party involved be locked within a room together and not be allowed to leave until they have a workable plan to put in place.
They could use the Agency of Natural Resources (ANR) annex building located in Berlin and have access to Porta-Potties, as provided to those who stayed at the temporary regional homeless shelter hosted there.
Morgan W. Brown, Montpelier
