Homeless people living in downtown Burlington, Vermont, spoke to Fox News Digital about the challenges of living on city streets, accusing the local government of not doing enough to help them and warning that the city could soon have an even worse problem.
They told the outlet that the Burlington city government should be providing transitional housing options, better meal plans, safety measures, and other solutions for individuals struggling with homelessness and drug addiction, or the city will start to resemble places with the worst homeless problems in America.
“Homelessness does not just go away. Homelessness gets bigger and bigger until it’s out of control. And guess what? Then sooner or later, you end up like L.A. or San Fran or, you know, major cities like that. New York City – you know?” one homeless man named Al said, calling on city leaders to do more for the homeless population.
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“Don’t sit at that, the frickin’ council meeting every frickin’ week and figure out a way to try to just shut us away or frickin’ whatever. Try to figure out a way to actually make it better. Transitional housing is definitely going to be the first key to it,” he urged.
Burlington, an idyllic New England town set against the backdrop of Lake Champlain and the Adirondack Mountains, has seen a boost in homeless people in recent years. Over 350 unhoused people currently live in and around the city – a record number.
Burlington leaders told Fox that many of the unhoused individuals in town have been ravaged by addiction, driven by drugs like fentanyl and xylazine, also known as “tranq.” Additionally, crime is up in the city. Crime data from 2024 reveals that gunfire is up in the city nearly 300 percent, and aggravated assault is up 40 percent.
Locals find it “dangerous” to be out in public, particularly at night. Overdoses and other crimes are putting a strain on first responders, particularly a police department that is grappling with having about 30% less officers than it had just a few years prior, due to budget cuts and attrition. However, city leaders insist they are currently working to hire more officers and funnel money back into law enforcement.
Al said that things have gotten worse in Burlington because of local government policies. He alleged that homeless shelters were shut down last winter and that the city has not done enough to house people in the interim.
“Well, situation is just that they shut down all the shelters,” he said, elsewhere adding, “I’d say everything has gotten significantly worse since then.”
Local outlet VTdigger.org reported last March that Republican Vermont Gov. Phil Scott ordered the closure of several temporary homeless shelters run by the Vermont National Guard, including one in downtown Burlington.
At the time, former Burlington mayor Miro Weinberger urged the state to keep the shelter open “given the lack of other shelter options available in town,” the outlet reported. The former mayor said it “would be a policy failure, it would be a moral failure, it would be an economic failure for the state to go forward with their plan to close the Cherry Street shelter on Friday.”
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The Scott administration last week announced its commitment to funding its $249 million Housing Recovery Plan that it first announced in 2021, which will provide “permanent housing” for the homeless in the long term, as well as expand emergency shelter capacity in “high needs areas.”
The homeless man told Fox News Digital he believes the Burlington City Council should focus on transitional housing for homeless people so that they can have assistance getting back on their feet, rather than placing them in apartments where they will immediately have to balance their own budget and manage the unfamiliar complexities of a permanent residence.
“It should be doing more focusing on transitional housing instead of, ‘Where the heck can we put ‘em and just leave ‘em there? Hopefully, they’ll go away.’ Because it doesn’t work like that.”
He also challenged the city officials and the public to stop viewing the homeless as a group to blame for the city’s problems.
“This society and this city and the people that live in it, it’s always easier to have a focus group to blame, to try to solve the problem, instead of sitting down and actually trying to figure out what causes the problem,” he said.
Burlington City Council President Ben Traverse assured Fox News Digital that the city is doing all it can to help the homeless.
“We’re really working to put a roof over everyone’s head, affordable housing in particular. So, we’re working on a lot of initiatives to build really, thousands of additional housing units,” he said, noting these units “are what Burlington and Vermont needs.”
Traverse also noted how the city is responding to the issues of addiction and policing.
“In terms of drug use, we’re expanding treatment options, working in partnership with state and other surrounding organizations to find treatment options for folks that are suffering through addiction. And in terms of some of the increased criminality that we’ve been facing here – we’ve really been working to support our police department and to address some of the recruitment and retention challenges that they’ve been facing,” he said.
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Ivy, a homeless person who identifies as transgender, suggested there is public stigma towards Burlington’s homeless.
“It’s tough,” Ivy told Fox. “It’s kind of degrading to be out here on Church Street and seeing all the people walking by, no one paying any mind.”
Ivy noted she’s primarily worried about her safety, mentioning rumors of local college kids beating up homeless people. She also expressed anxiety over threats of physical violence from other people when she’s out at night because of her gender identity.
“Well, I’m trans and it’s dangerous to be trans and homeless – more so than just being homeless,” Ivy said, adding, “So I get scared of getting jumped.”
The individual did say that the city provides some resources for homeless, but mentioned it’s hard to get meals on weekends. She added that there are shelters for unhoused people but noted treatment options for addicts and mentally ill people are currently limited.
“There’s not a lot of options for people who are, like, addicted … There’s just a lot of questions being asked. And I think that anyone should be able to have a home, no matter if they’re addicted or are struggling with mental health,” Ivy said.
The Burlington mayor’s office was not available to provide comment at Fox News Digital’s request.
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