Dear Editor,
Two years ago my spouse and I, ages 74 and 75, resided at the Sonesta ES Suites in Burlington. We stayed there for four weeks. We paid. We awaited a new condo to be ready that we had purchased.
We soon noticed that there were others housed there because of being homeless. They had children and sometimes I met them outside walking with their children or doing their laundry. Once my spouse drove a father and his child (in a car seat) to do some errands.
I am dismayed to see that funding for such places will soon end. In my 40-year career in Massachusetts with children and their families, I never knew any family that wanted to remain without a permanent home of their own. I worked in shelters in Framingham, Mass., with parents and their young children. There were wait lists for mental health services and affordable housing. These parents worked.
I hope the Vermont legislators support continued funding.
Anne C. Sullivan,
Hinesburg
