All Vermonters deserve a safe and affordable place to live, yet rising rents, low rental vacancy and mounting evictions are pushing an unprecedented number of Vermonters into streets, cars and dangerous living situations. Children, people with disabilities and severe medical conditions, veterans, youth exiting foster care and elder residents are some of the many faces of a crisis that has catapulted Vermont to the second highest per capita rate of homelessness in the United States for the second year running and garnered national attention.

Vermonters do not need to accept this. Homelessness is a housing problem, and Vermont’s policy choices have led to skyrocketing rates of homelessness. Many decades of research have shown that the vast majority of people experiencing chronic homelessness can be successfully housed using an evidence-based Housing First approach. Housing First is a federally backed strategy of supporting unhoused individuals and families into housing before addressing other challenges. Cities and institutions employing these proven practices at scale have made dramatic progress in solving homelessness. This is why a diverse group of organizations and individuals, including Vermonters with lived experience of homelessness, came together to create Housing First Vermont. We know that Vermont, too, can make headway by adopting evidence-based policies and best practices to solve homelessness.

First, we should decide as a state that every Vermonter deserves a safe and stable place to live. To achieve this goal, the state should adopt a common framework accompanied by ambitious state targets. Data-driven targets should include the number of Vermonters to rehouse, new non-congregate shelter units utilizing Housing First principles, and new housing units dedicated to Vermonters exiting homelessness. Policymakers also should build on the work of the Legislature in 2023 and require that 30% of all housing units created with state funding be dedicated to Vermonters exiting homelessness.

Second, Vermont should embrace the data-proven practice of Housing First. Robust evidence shows that Housing First is more effective at ending homelessness than conventional approaches. The state can begin this system-wide transformation by investing to bring the infrastructure for Housing First permanent supportive housing to every community in Vermont. In parallel, policymakers should begin to require Vermont state housing and service investments to follow the evidence-based Housing First components outlined by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Third, we must accelerate efforts to house people experiencing chronic homelessness and Vermonters with disabilities, including psychiatric disabilities and substance use disorders. Individuals with disabilities are significantly over-represented among people experiencing homelessness, face steep barriers to exiting homelessness and may be more likely to face eviction as a result of their disability status. Many studies have demonstrated that most people, including those with psychiatric disability and substance use disorder, can be successfully housed and stabilized in housing.

As an immediate priority, Vermont policymakers must ensure all homelessness policies, implementation, and investments use the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) definition of disability. Under the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1999 Olmstead decision, people with disabilities have the right to equal access to emergency housing and to receive care, including for psychiatric disability, in the least restrictive setting. Policies to rehouse vulnerable Vermonters must be accompanied by eviction prevention policies and practices consistent with Housing First and the ADA. Evicting people struggling with substance use disorder and psychiatric disability only fuels the dual crises of overdoses and unsheltered homelessness in communities across Vermont.

Fourth, Vermont must reimagine its approach to supporting Vermonters experiencing homelessness as it invests in permanent solutions. Many studies on the use of motel-based shelter have added to evidence that non-congregate shelter, where individuals or families live in their own space, is superior to conventional congregate shelter. The state should expand its supply of non-congregate shelter in line with this growing body of data. Interim housing, or shelter, should be designed as a shuttle to permanent housing, versus a revolving door that leaves far too many people cycling through dangerous living arrangements, emergency rooms and the criminal justice system at great risk to themselves and great cost to the public.

Finally, Vermont must reject harmful and ineffective practices that are not supported by evidence or consistent with the Americans with Disabilities Act. Research does not support the use of encampment sweeps, camping and panhandling bans, asylums, forced institutionalization and treatment, use of congregate shelters or conditioning housing or shelter on participation in required services. Many of these practices not only fail to solve homelessness but also impose significant costs and impacts on communities. Policies and practices for shelter, permanent housing, and supportive services must use evidence-based practices grounded in dignity and choice.

Vermont’s emergency of homelessness is not inevitable. Our community members and neighbors should not have to suffer any longer without safe and stable housing. We know that we can make progress on this crisis if we follow the science on best practices to solve homelessness. Choosing to solve homelessness makes our communities stronger for all Vermonters.

Housing First Vermont is a coalition working to advance evidence-based policies and best practices to solve homelessness. Signing organizations and individuals are as follows: Disability Rights Vermont, End Homelessness Vermont, Pathways Vermont, ACLU of Vermont, Vermont Center for Independent Living, Vermont Legal Aid, Michael Ruggles, Brenda Siegel, and Anne Sosin, a public health practitioner and researcher at Dartmouth College.