As BCL students learn more about the city they call home, one issue continues to rise to the surface – the city’s housing crisis. At this point, we have encountered it multiple times, and explored it from a variety of angles. We were first introduced to the concept of the “margins” on our walk with Judy Dow. The margins, both social and geographical, were illustrated in real time by our time with Burlington’s Urban Parks Rangers. Later in September, BCL13 hosted seven community partners for a roundtable focused on the city’s housing crisis. Each of these professional partners work at the leading edge of the housing crisis, and students walked away with fresh insights the real-world challenges they face every day. Recently, we hosted Courtney Lamdin, whose Seven Days cover story, Downtown Dilemma, deepened our community-wide conversation about these issues. 

BCL teachers could have organized these experiences into a tight, bracketed unit on the Housing System, but doing so would have felt artificial. Instead, we have followed a spiraling path, adding perspectives and context with every turn. This is not an issue that the city can solve overnight. At the same time, there isn’t an easy channel for Burlington residents’ empathy or activism. This issue is pervasive, and yet somehow it also feels universally debilitating.

How should the community respond? What can we actually do? In BCL, we have taken a small but important first-step – choosing to not look away. 

Talking to Gina this week, I learned about her about her work with COTS. She explained that if you are staying in a COTS shelter you are paired with a housing navigator. I thought this was super cool because instead of people just coming for a place to stay they are also getting help and moving them in a direction towards finding a long term place to stay… Talking to Marcella Gange, from the city, showed me that this is true. As she helps the homeless community by setting up grants and doing many things for our city she told us that even she didn’t know the answer to our homeless and housing problem. But very soon it’s going to need to be figured out.  

• Miles

Throughout our sessions with different community partners who work with the housing crisis, I took many notes, but one story from Gina Stevensen stuck with me in particular. Gina shared an anonymous story about a family of two parents with two young kids. In this family, the father was the only one with a consistent income, but despite his income, they were evicted from their apartment and had to move into a temporary home. The real problem was that the father was earning too much money to qualify for assistance for homeless individuals but not enough to afford a permanent home in Burlington. I wrote in my journal, “People can make too much money to have housing benefits but too little to pay for rent to buy a house in Burlington.” This really struck me as a perfect example of the complicated and frustrating situation many families face in what is labeled as “affordable housing” in Burlington… Families like the one Gina described are caught in a difficult situation, making too much to receive aid but too little to afford housing in Burlington. 

Reflecting on this, I realized how vital these community partners are. The work being done by AALV, CVOEO, COTS, and the City is essential, but the bigger problem of housing affordability must also be addressed to prevent more families from falling into this precarious situation.

• Max

When BCL hosted five community partners…one community partner talked about homelessness and the housing crisis. One thing she said was that there was this family [struggling to find housing ] where the two kids knew how to speak English and how to read and write, but the mother didn’t know any English. It’s definitely hard for someone to be in a space with people who don’t speak the same language. She might not be able to get the help she needs. 

Last year I wrote a song essay. Basically we took one song and explained the lyrics and what they mean to you. I chose the song “Dear God” by Dax. One of those lyrics stood out to me the most. He writes, “How the hell does one man have 100 billion dollars and we still have people on the street that are broke?” The question I’m curious about is what can we do to solve homelessness. If money is not an option then what is? Because what the lyric says is one man has 100 billion dollars but we still have people on the street that are broke.   

• Josh

Our parks have been suffering. [We have] a drug epidemic which since COVID has skyrocketed to levels that are beyond the tipping point, and an increasing homeless population, our parks have been disconnected from the natural spaces they were intended to be. Instead of serving as places for recreation, relaxation, and social cohesion, Burlington’s parks have become overwhelmed with the issues of substance abuse and homelessness. These problems have not only affected the appearance and accessibility of the parks, but also their safety and usability for the wider community.

As an Urban Park Ranger, Neil Preston faces the challenge of maintaining the balance between compassion for vulnerable populations and ensuring the parks remain safe and welcoming for everyone. [One answer is] more funding for Substance Abuse Treatment… By investing more resources into substance abuse treatment, the city could not only help these individuals regain control of their lives but also restore the parks to their original purpose. Neil’s holistic approach shows that solving these problems requires more than just cleaning up parks; it demands addressing the systemic issues that keep people marginalized and disconnected from the help they need.

• Winslow

Housing has become a pretty big problem in recent years, widely around the whole State of Vermont. Something I thought that could fix this problem was to maybe build buildings with cheap prices or lower the prices of new homes for people in need. [However,] “Vermont would need to build between 24,000 and 36,000 new housing units to meet estimated demand over the next five years, according to the latest.” This could take a very long time. “At the same time, the supply of housing in Vermont remains tight. Only 2,300 new homes were permitted in 2022, far below the 5,000 to 7,000 per year that the report estimates will be necessary to meet demand.” This a serious issue because Vermont is not even coming close to the recommended number…

I can not describe how I feel about this situation all around. Realizing how this could affect someone who just wants a home to live in is concerning to me… Could this process potentially pick up its pace and reach the recommendation? Or will people have to suffer or wait for this process to be complete?

• Gaston

One system that is really struggling in Burlington is the housing system. There is currently a huge housing crisis, leaving many people unhoused and unsheltered. 60% of Burlington residents are renters, which means they don’t own their own home and can make finding a place to live much more difficult. The current vacancy rate is 0.2%. The low vacancy rate causes many issues such as raising prices and makes it hard to find a place to live. When the vacancy rate is this low, landlords can get away with not keeping up with the houses and letting the quality of homes drop because people’s standards drop due to the fact that it is already so difficult to find somewhere to live so they will take what they can get. 

There is a very large population of homeless people in Burlington and we need to find something to do to improve this problem. There is a very low number of beds that are available. One story that stuck with me was about a guy who had lost everything in his life, gotten multiple DUIs, lost his wife to cancer, was an alcoholic, and didn’t have a job. He ended up being homeless but Neil Preston helped him through his journey of finding a home. He turned his life around, got a job, eventually bought a trailer, and now helps his mom. This story proved that there is a chance to turn things around and that it does get better. 

• Ruby

A Seven Days article about the housing shortage states, “The housing shortage has become so acute that it’s starting to affect every aspect of social and economic life in Vermont. Job seekers who have found the perfect position have to turn down offers because they can’t find housing nearby. Young adults, unable to afford their own place, are living with their parents in greater numbers than at any time since the Great Depression.” This really shows the connections between housing and jobs which is what we saw in our station talks with community partners. Between our talks with AALV and Urban Park Rangers we saw the connections between homelessness and [the challenges of] finding a job. Without having a permanent address, or an ID, it becomes almost impossible to apply to jobs and get important mail you will need. [We also thought about] the importance of being well-rested. Lacking that will affect someone’s well-being and ability to present themselves. 

This week for Honors, we listened to a podcast with Braiding Sweetgrass author, Robin Wall Kimmerer. She talked about the relationships between humans and the land, and the role of plants. One of the quotes from the podcast that intrigued me was, “Redefining our relationship with place is being taught by the land, isn’t it?” I really liked this quote. It reminded me of placemaking and talking with community partners, hearing the stories of the people they work with who struggle to find a home, a place. Land is everyone’s home, animals, pants, humans, but not everyone feels as though they belong if they don’t have a place to go. 

• Glenna

Courtney Lamdin’s article, “Downtown Dilemma,” was very powerful and spoke to a lot of relevant issues in Burlington and how we need to take action soon. In times of crisis…individuals often experience heightened emotions—stress, anxiety, and confusion. In my journal I wrote, “I think Courtney’s job is cool but also very impactful on the way our community views the homeless population. Courtney has a big say in the perception of homeless people downtown. After reading the Seven Days article I feel more connected to what’s going on.” article presents a multifaceted view of the drug crisis, highlighting both the challenges and potential solutions but saying how, “there is no immediate solution, or we would have already done it.” For individuals grappling with the information and its implications, journaling can help clarify thoughts. I really appreciate how we are able to write our thoughts and share them as a group in BCL. 

• Jo

In BCL, everybody was handed a newspaper and we read an article all together. In it, we found out a lot of information about homelessness. The article also talked about The amounts of overdoses going on downtown. It explained how there are so many needles over the streets of Burlington, which scared me. I’m thinking of how so many overdoses have been happening around in Burlington. Sometimes I don’t feel safe going around Burlington at night time because there are a lot of people who are using drugs and it sometimes scares me. 

The question I wanted to ask Courtney was. “ Do you think in the future Burlington will find a way to help the people who are homeless and help them find a place to stay?” If Burlington could be more aware of the situation, we could help fix this problem.

• Lazizi

The unhoused population in Burlington is the city’s most pressing issue. Burlington has the second highest percentage of unhoused individuals per capita, with 51 per 10,000 residents, just behind New York City, which has 53 per 10,000. What can be done about this? In the recent mayoral election, Progressive candidate Emma Mulvaney-Stanak gained a significant advantage, winning in March. Since then, she has collaborated with the city council to implement several public safety measures, including an increase in the cap on police officer hires, and the plan to implement a public safety kiosk on Church Street that will house an officer at all times to address safety and health risks. For the kiosk to move forward, a proposal must be submitted to the city council by January 2025. After analyzing the situation, I believe the kiosk could significantly benefit Burlington. I have personally experienced threats while walking on Church Street, and if police were present, I would have felt safer contacting them. The visible presence of officers could also deter drug use and help keep Church Street a welcoming place for tourists.

While visiting parks and playgrounds, I often find needles, both out in the open and hidden in various corners of the city. This is unacceptable. Children, who are naturally curious and sometimes careless, deserve safe spaces to play. The potential harm posed by needles is immense. The fear of encountering needles could discourage children from playing outside, which is deeply troubling. Regular exposure to such dangers can desensitize them to the risks associated with drug use, contributing to our ongoing drug epidemic. Kids cannot be expected to navigate these hazards alone; they don’t know how to report needles, and the city can only do so much with limited resources.

• Gus

For a while, I have felt like Downtown is kind of a normal place, as it was a couple of years ago. Because I go to school Downtown, it feels safe to me. While reading the article, I realized there’s a good amount of people who are quite afraid of downtown, and there’s also a good amount of people who see these tragedies every day, including drug abuse and overdoses.

In the article, there is a scene at a church. 

“You can’t do drugs here, Mike,” Ava Bilton warned. “We just had an overdose.”

“I don’t do nothin’,” he said.

“I just saw the needle out!” Bilton said, exasperated. “Is that for your diabetes?”

Bilton began cleaning up the campsite. Once she looked away, Mike prepared a syringe, found a vein in his hand, and pressed the plunger.” 

This is absolutely absurd to me. I’m really left speechless. How can one, after being helped by their friend, take out drugs and inject them? How are there no responses to this? Why aren’t officials becoming involved? This all leads to my main question. “How can we, as a whole, decrease drug abuse in Burlington?” It will take time and can’t happen overnight, but I believe we can solve the issue through legal actions, enforcement, and treatment. It needs to start soon to ensure Burlington remains a beautiful city inside and out. 

• Jacques

In our numerous discussions about the housing crisis in Burlington, one thing that has stuck out to me the most is the vacancy rate. According to my journal, there is a .2% vacancy rate in Burlington. This means that at any time, there are, on average, only .2% of all apartments or rentable housing unoccupied in Burlington. From all of my experience in Burlington, I have always perceived it to be a growing city and one that welcomes all. If Burlington doesn’t have any open housing then how is it supposed to grow at all or welcome anyone else? Across the U.S., the cost of rent has gone up tremendously in the past years. According to CBS News, “Rents jumped 30.4% nationwide between 2019 and 2023, while wages during that same period rose 20.2%” The fact that between 2019 and 2023 rents have grown ~10% faster than average wages makes me wonder about stricter mandates on landlords by the government. I understand that landlords need to make money as well but if the majority of the low-income members of our community, some government workers, clerks, and other essential positions can’t find housing. In general, it is safe to say that, at the moment, the housing system in Burlington is not helping our community thrive.

• Ale

I feel like we have talked about the housing system for ages, but we still learn new things every time. It seems like an issue that has no end in sight. What are the solutions the state is working on? It seems like things are getting worse with inflation rising and programs being defunded like the Hotel/Motel program. Where else can homeless people seek refuge in the winter? Downtown Dilemma, which we read in class, taught me the perspectives of business owners and first responders when it came to this issue. “Compassion fatigue” was hitting some first responders hard because they were responding to the same calls and tending to the same people so often it became hard to sympathize with them. I also didn’t know about the dilemma churches were facing. I wrote in my journal, “It makes me sad that a few homeless people are ruining it for the rest, churches are supposed to be sanctuaries but they’re having to make the tough decision of turning others away.”  Going to a Catholic school taught me about christian values and how important hospitality is in the Bible. It must have been an incredibly tough decision to turn away the people who need their help most. 

It can be easy to look down at the unhoused population with disdain, but from our time with Neil Preston, I realized most of them are just people in an unfortunate situation… More social workers are needed to connect with people and offer them services. When I found out Neil and his partner were the only two people [on the Parks staff] tasked with this, I was in disbelief. Two people are not enough to solve the problem in the city. Why is the city not hiring more people to address this issue? The housing system failed our unhoused neighbors, for sure, but it takes a community to get them back on their feet. 

• Pramudita