The United States is currently facing a public health emergency
The United States is currently facing a public health emergency due to homelessness and the lack of affordable and accessible housing, compounded by a polysubstance epidemic, climate disasters, and a viral pandemic. According to The 2024 Annual Homelessness Assessment Report, “our worsening national affordable housing crisis, rising inflation, stagnating wages among middle- and lower-income households, and the persisting effects of systemic racism have stretched homelessness services systems to their limits.”
We must take immediate action towards providing shelter for all, until there is housing for all.
In Vermont, both the Scott Administration and the General Assembly share responsibility for the current humanitarian disaster of unsheltered homelessness. During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021, Vermont managed to provide shelter to almost everyone who sought it. Several proposals were brought forward to create a just transition from emergency assistance to housing solutions. The House Progressive Caucus and our allies fought tirelessly to reduce the harm of motel evictions at every possible opportunity. As a result, our efforts have preserved shelter for 95% of our unhoused neighbors this winter. Yet, hundreds are still left struggling to survive outside, as Vermont’s rate of homelessness now ranks 4th in the nation.
As a volunteer with the mutual aid project The People’s Kitchen, I continue to witness firsthand how the housing crisis is a public health emergency. Beyond the shortage of shelter and housing, we are also grappling with a worsening polysubstance epidemic. Psychostimulants like crack and methamphetamines have become more widely used, often in combination with synthetic opioids and other drugs, including fentanyl, xylazine, carfentanil, and nitazines. I regularly hear stories of people needing multiple doses of Narcan to reverse an overdose. Many overdoses go uncounted by the government because people survive and do not seek additional medical treatment, thanks to widespread Narcan distribution in the community. Still, Vermont has some of the highest overdose death rates in the country and is among the states with the highest rates of substance use (Substance Use Information | Vermont Department of Health).
When people want help, treatment options remain limited, and as a result, many continue to suffer immensely. Unsheltered homelessness leads to higher rates of health problems, further stressing an already overburdened system of care. The social determinants of health and crime are closely linked. Criminalizing survival behaviors of individuals experiencing homelessness, poverty, mental illnesses, substance use disorders, and other disabling health conditions only worsens stigma. This stigma, in turn, fuels crime, violence, and further health issues. Increased interaction with law enforcement often leads to incarceration, a costly and ineffective practice. This public health emergency continues to strain our criminal justice, public safety, and healthcare systems. Moreover, it creates stressful working conditions for frontline workers, especially police officers, who are often asked to protect property rather than people.
Since December 2024, unsheltered individuals have died due to a combination of factors, including exposure to the elements, heightened overdose risks from more potent substances and a lack of safe consumption sites, and trauma from stigma and violence. Homelessness not only causes profound trauma but also threatens public safety and diminishes the quality of life for all Vermonters, both housed and unhoused. We must change our response to the public health emergency, or we risk perpetuating a harmful cycle that wastes taxpayer dollars, especially as we face uncertainty at the federal level. Providing housing and shelter for all is not just a moral obligation—it is the fiscally responsible path forward.
Rep. Brian Cina of Burlington (Chittenden 15)
Assistant Leader of House Progressive Caucus
House Health Care Committee
House Ethics Panel
