A new bill more than doubles the minimum funding states require to help people transition out of homelessness, increasing the federal limit from $300,000 to $750,000 for the Projects for Assistance in Transition from Homelessness, according to a statement released by U.S. Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt.

“Homelessness is a human tragedy affecting communities across the country,” Welch said in the statement. “The unique homelessness challenges faced by small and rural states are neglected under the PATH’s outdated formula. This bill will get much needed additional assistance to local agencies in Vermont who are performing heroic work fighting this endemic problem.”

According to the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness, 1,291 people were listed as being homeless in Vermont in 2018, including 169 family units, 104 veterans, 101 “unaccompanied” young adults between the ages of 18 and 24 and 160 individuals experiencing chronic homelessness.

Between 2016 and 2017, there were 1,098 homeless students in Vermont, 224 of them living out of hotels or motels, and 60 of those students unaccompanied, statistics showed.

Vermont has a slightly lower average median income than the country overall, which reported $61,372 in 2017. In Vermont the average is $57,652, measured by the Census bureau from 2013 to 2017.

“It’s hard to say whether things are getting better,” said Erhard Mahnke, coordinator for the Vermont Affordable Housing Coalition. “Certain sub- populations of homelessness have increased — in Chittenden County, significant increase in chronically homeless population with disabilities.”

A Point in Time count conducted by the Vermont Coalition to End Homelessness saw a 200-person decrease this year, but the number of unsheltered people — living in their cars, tents and other places — saw a 39% increase this year, and while literal homelessness was experienced by 1,089 people, 2015 brought the worst records with 1,523 registered as homeless — including children.

The average length of stay in shelters was 50 days, Mahnke said, the longest since the report was created 16 years ago, evidence that moving homeless people out of shelters isn’t feasible in a market where you need an average of two jobs to be able to afford a modest two-bedroom apartment, according to the Housing Opportunity Report from fiscal year 2018. Mahnke said.

“We’ve seen people staying as long as a year or more,” Mahnke said.

“You need to earn $22.78 (per hour),” Mahnke said. “It’s more expensive to pull them out of homelessness than to prevent them from getting there.”

Living in tents, cars and motels often leaves the homeless populations without adequate access to health care, good food and resources, the results of which can mean a heavy tax burden for others for emergency services.

Being homeless is expensive, and because the members of the homeless population might need more job training, education and financial assistance in learning how to work at new jobs requiring more certification, getting out of what Mahnke called the “downward spiral of homelessness” is a lot more difficult than getting there or preventing it.

A Vermont Basic Needs Budget for 2016, last revised by the Legislature in February 2017, which included health care, dental care, housing, food and transportation, reported that the average Vermonter would spend $2,495 per month if they lived in an urban area and $2,220 if they lived in a rural one.

“I commend Representatives Welch and Gianforte for their advocacy around the PATH program,” said Angus Chaney, executive director of the Homeless Prevention Center in Rutland. “They’re correct that it’s really time to address the inequity in the federal distribution formula that impacts small states like Vermont.”

First enacted in 1990, the PATH program has allowed for federal dollars to benefit state initiatives to combat homelessness, but Vermont only receives the minimum amount, while larger and more densely-populated states benefit from the formula used to calculate the pool.

H.R.3592 stands to change that.

For Rutland County, the additional funding pays for a housing support and outreach specialist, Ashlee Chalmers, who meets with people throughout the community, whether at the hospital, a homeless shelter or somewhere else in town, Chaney said.

“She has a gift for building rapport with people who may not have had a great experience with other institutions or may be struggling with complex issues,” Chaney said in an email. “Our PATH-supported outreach is often that critical first point of contact where people who may be in crisis and uncomfortable about seeking assistance, get connected with our whole menu of services at the Homeless Prevention Center.”

Chaney said the follow-up care required by his organization for people moving into subsidized housing requires more funding, but they have instead come to rely on private donations and other sources in lieu of federal funds for more monitoring and assistance.

“Correcting the current issue of the small state minimum would allow Rutland and other communities in rural states to better meet the needs of Americans experiencing homelessness,” Chaney said.

katelyn.barcellos

@rutlandherald.com

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