Nancy Braus, a retired independent bookseller, is a longtime activist.
GUILFORD-On the evening of Jan. 22, I attended a vigil organized for, and partially by, a small portion of the large and pretty desperate unhoused population of my small county — one event of six in Vermont.
The entire population of my county, Windham County, Vermont is somewhere around 45,000 — smaller than any major city. And yet, despite bitter cold winters, especially this year, we have a very large and growing unhoused population.
An estimate by a local housing activist is that we have more than 900 homeless people in our county, almost entirely centered in the two towns where services are available. The rest of the county is very rural, and has no shelter capacity, or place for a meal. A food shelf, which many very small towns offer, is not helpful if you have no place to prepare the food.
On that evening, we enjoyed a rare break in this winter’s weather. The temperature was around 30 degrees, the wind was calm, and we were able to stand together in reasonable comfort, listen to a few speakers (including a formerly unhoused activist who has become a real community leader), a minister, the town manager, a compassionate police officer, and a currently homeless man.
The speakers memorialized a surprising number of people who have died homeless in our county. (All, including the homeless man, sounded a lot more coherent than the current occupant of the White House.)
We then walked to a space, a former restaurant that has been rented from a very supportive owner to be used as a warming/support/arts space where hot lunches, donated warm clothing, bathrooms, and shelter for rest during the daylight hours are freely available. A space that exists only through community donations. A space that has been strongly opposed by a surprising number of selfish and shortsighted people.
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As we warmed up, many of us discussed how painful this moment is to anyone with a heart or a soul.
We had no idea if every one of those in need of a bed would survive the next weekend, when temperatures were predicted to plummet to below 0, to be followed immediately by a major winter storm and subzero nights for the entire week to follow. And there are not enough shelter beds for those who need them.
As the unhoused speaker pointed out, the money that some of us would donate for motel rooms for those who are not able to find a shelter bed could be used much more efficiently if we were able to purchase housing for the many who are outside nightly. Funds could be pooled together for a local housing solution, if we were not always in a housing emergency.
I live in an area with many who are always trying to get in front of the housing and food emergencies of those who have never been able to have stable housing and healthy food, as well as those who are being deeply affected by the current crisis and cuts in already inadequate emergency assistance.
They might be experiencing the loss of a job or health benefits. They might have a physical or behavioral health condition. They might be an abused spouse. So many reasons.
Hundreds of local residents prepare food and bring it to shelters, transport for Meals on Wheels, volunteer at shelters and day spaces, bring donations to food shelves, and do so much more to provide emergency help.
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But how do we get on top of this one-battle-after- another approach we now need to take to help those who are unhoused?
The awful truth? It may not be possible unless and until we can get the Republicans and the worst of the corporate Democrats out of power.
This coalition continues enthusiastically to pay for anything except human needs.
They’ve increased the funding for an ever-growing Gestapo-like ICE army of goons terrorizing the best of American cities.
They’ve provided a massive tax cut for the least needy people in the history of the world: the vile billionaires who can now buy that one extra private yacht and pay no taxes on it. And, of course, they support our bloated military budget, allowing a very mentally disturbed Donald Trump to attempt to bully the leaders of the world.
The only way to begin to get ahead of the great housing emergency is for us to do whatever we can to challenge the current regime: being out in the streets, pressuring Congress to use what small remaining power they possess, pressing our state governments to stand up to the Trump regime.
In the case of Vermont, we need to be working our tails off to replace our complacent and complicit governor. We need to participate in, and educate about, potential national movements such as future general strikes or other large actions. We need to write to local media or on social media.
Under the current system of fascist Republicans and corporate Democratic “leadership,” we will never see the housing policy we need: Billions of dollars needs to be spent, and we will have those funds if we tax the wealthy and their highly profitable corporations.
It is entirely unacceptable that so many are homeless when others have three, four, five, or even more houses yet pay little or no taxes.
As we demand health care as a human right, it is also time to demand housing as a human right.
The federal government has abdicated that role, but it does not mean we can’t demand housing.
Now.
This Voices Viewpoint was submitted to The Commons.
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