These are some excellent ideas!

They are currently working on legislation that requires new developments to have a certain number of affordable housing units with "homeless preference" for tenancy. This would mean that the landlord can pull from a number of people currently GA in housing/shelters. Existing landlords are pushing back on registering existing units as they fear it will turn into "rent control".

I love the idea of employee housing. The few THP hotels that have been able to meet guidelines, I found are currently employing residents. It appears to be a win-win situation for the most part.

There are currently some funding options for Accessory Dwellings, I don't believe there is a tax break though. An accessory dwelling can increase property taxes, and running utilities to the buildings can be in the tens of thousands of dollars. There is not much incentive for people to actually take advantage of doing this.

Some useful information here concerning excessive police calls at these properties. It's a two part equation.

1. there are drug/violence situations that require law enforcement, this will happen anywhere

2. the property owners of the shitty hotels/motels regularly call the police on tenants as a form of intimidation. They also routinely call police to perform "evictions" on tenants that make them unhappy or file complaints about their treatment. This happened so frequently at the Econo Lodge in Saint Albans that the SAPD will no longer show up for these "evictions" as they are now aware the tenants have Occupancy Agreements and can't be ripped out of their housing because a hotel owner is having a bad day. IE if a tenant calls a property owner an unsavory name, the owner will call the PD because they are butthurt.

3. with property owners basically abusing the PD functions and using them as "intimidation" by calling them multiple times a day it's stretched the already small PDs to their limits.

4. Cortina Inn was one of the places that was calling PD whenever the owner was having a bad day. We will call these "Petty Calls". This led to the PD being misused as "security" for the property and eventually they got fed up with the drain of their resources and personal and demanded compensation for calling them so frequently.

I'll start looking into this, it would have to be another northern state that also heavily relies of tourism.

I do know that Portland, ME has had huge successes with their public housing projects. That may only work in a large urban area though. It's the rural areas that are quite difficult to get resources to.

Right?? I was dumbfounded for a few seconds the first time they said it to me.

There is no moral, or logical reasoning, behind their actions.

I've spent well over 250 hours doing research at this point to find some of the information that I have. It's my hope that this will make it much easier for others to follow through with reports and the like.

I would definitely recommend Vermont's Human Rights Commission. They genuinely care about these issues. You have to file online if its a "personal" case but they also host public meetings once a month that I am greatly encouraging people to attend if possible. I was the first member of the public to attend a meeting in almost 3 months they told me.

Vermont Legal Aid doesn't have enough resources to take on the issues in the THP as a class action lawsuit and have encouraged people to pursue the hotel/motel owners in county courts for breach of contract.

I see no reason why a small state like Vermont isn't capable of being that model for others.

Unfortunately our state agencies lack any ability of oversight, and it makes it very difficult to accomplish.

Also as part of that proposal in the 90's...

AHS lobbied to have "landlord/tenant" rights removed from hospitality zoning so there was no conflict with length of stay being longer than 28 days.

The consequences of this is that it has now removed ALL of the housing rights afforded to individuals in GA housing programs such as the Transitional Housing Program

If you look through the records any that say

Dept--DCF: General Assistance"

Issue-- 9. Other

Case Decision-- 4. Dismissed

These are the cases in which someone has complained about hotel/motel conditions and was kicked out for it. You'll notice that the way the cases are written its the "Petitioner vs DCF" instead of the actual property owner. The board 100% of the time finds DCF not at fault, which results in conditions remaining the same and the "Petitioner" still loses their housing.

https://outside.vermont.gov/agency/AHSHSB/Orders/Documents/2022/FH-T-04-22-220%20&%20FH-T-04-22-241%20Order.pdf

Here's a a random case that picked and skimmed over.

Ah yes, this I am familiar with. DCF/ESD calls this your "right to a fair hearing".

I was not offered a "Fair Hearing" until 63 days AFTER I had left the property. The hearing was subsequently thrown out for "no longer being relevant" before anything was done.

AHS is also under the impression that they can't "force" these hotel/motel owners to do anything because it is "private property". While correct that it is privately owned, since it is in hospitality zoning and accepting members of the public... they are subject to all of the regulations under the Vermont Lodging Statutes, which would be enforced by VDH a division of AHS.

Therefore any decision made in the "Fair Hearing" doesn't mean anything because none of the AHS departments will act on it.

EDIT: It's also important to note that this is a "citizen's" panel and has no judiciary power, IE enforcing/overturning decisions made by the Agency is not legally possible. It's more of an advisory panel.

I haven't heard of it before if it does exist. From my experience with them however they lack transparency and are definitely not open to criticism.

Mainly, the fact that is no "somewhere else" to move these people to. They are desperate for hotels to participate in the program.

I wholeheartedly agree, hopefully this trend can continue

It is happening here! There is a great example of this in Barre, I can't remember the name of the program right now. They purchased a hotel that went out of business and revamped it into a community center/shelter.

I would like to think that we can do better.

However your motto is quite fitting of their actions...

Perhaps they should adopt it as their new mission statement

Everyone "supports" emergency shelter facilities until it comes time for zoning.

Then they don't want it anywhere near them. It's the same story every time something comes close to being built.

lol I forget about that!

It reminds me of a true crime podcast that described Rutland as a "sleepy little town"

SO many movies do this!

I was looking at some dated reg, you're correct. Sorry about that.

you can safely add anti-gel additives to outdoor tank negating the need for the expensive kerosene.

Try off road diesel with an anti gel additive.

Sulphur content is much lower as well.

If the truck was newer than 2007 and he used more than 1 gallon of fuel you can "technically" get jail time for a litany of tax and environmental crimes

If it comes down to the absolute worst case scenario... Off-Road Diesel is your best bet.

Fill a jerry can with what ever you can afford, and repeat as necessary.

The taxes are much lower, and the sulphur content is lower by several thousand PPM as well.

In theory, the lower sulphur content would also make the furnace more efficient

I wanted to clarify that my article mentions the "Quality" Inn and not the "Days" Inn.

The Days Inn is a resounding success within the THP as far as I am concerned. The hotel administration went above and beyond to bring in resources for mental health and substance abuse. Things that DCF/ESD were unable to accomplish. Their hotel is also clean and holds events for the children that are housed there.

The Quality Inn however has administration that's under the impression that they are running a "sober house" of sorts and doesn't adhere to many of the THP guidelines. The google reviews make some interesting accusations as well but I have not been able to confirm those.

I really appreciate hearing your experience with the program, there is a lot to unpack here and I would be interested in more details regarding your time working in the program.

Incorrect, there are many successful hotels in the state that are participating in the THP that are still open to the public. Meeting health guidelines is simple.

I agree that there simply is no where better to move these people to, and a bed is a bed. However with these hotels receiving around $4k/month per room... on the low end each hotel having 30+ rooms in the program that's over $120k guaranteed income each month. They can absolutely be maintained at the "owners expense". At over two years into the program any property failing to meet "code" is on the behalf of the owners poor property maintenance and misallocation of funds.

You're correct, its a descriptive term used to describe someone who publicly supports a particular cause. In this case, its Housing.

Thus the term "Housing Advocate"

Thanks for the tip, I'll keep that in mind for the future!