The False Choice of Fiscal Responsibility vs. Equity
Governor Scott vetoed Vermont’s Budget Adjustment Act (BAA) over a fight about whether to continue to fund the General Assistance Emergency Housing Program’s motel shelter effort. This $1.8 million effort was the smallest part of the legislature’s BAA. Without it, over 700 Vermonters (including dozens of children) will be evicted from motel shelter on April 1st and more afterward. This VT Digger article has the latest.
On social media, Governor Scott said he vetoed the BAA because Vermonters want “fiscal discipline” and that the program is “failing taxpayers and those in the program.” Setting aside the fact that “those in the program” are almost all Vermont taxpayers, Governor Scott is weaponizing political division. Maybe someone needs to remind our governor that the first word of our state motto is “unity.” It is always the marginalized that pay the highest price for political divisiveness.
No one in Vermont should have to live outside. To be clear, living in a motel room without adequate wraparound help is not a long-term solution. But where is the administration’s plan?
Different perspectives help to see situations differently. From the governor’s mansion or the statehouse, this fight over the BAA looks like just another political tug-of-war. But from the view of a tent in the woods, or a sleeping bag at night under a highway bridge, or from the eyes of a little girl curled up in the backseat of her family’s car, Vermont’s inability to provide shelter to everyone looks like pain. A decision that results in the end of shelter looks neglectful and callous. It does not look like Vermont.
Green Mountain Justice respects the inherent worthiness of every person and their right to live a dignified life. Equity means you do not subordinate the needs of the marginalized to the needs of the privileged. Shelter care is not justice, and Vermont’s leaders need a strategy to end chronic homelessness in our Green Mountain home. In the meantime, let’s care, connect, and collaborate to keep people safe and inside. Call Governor Scott at 802-828-3333 and tell him not to evict people from shelter and to work with the legislature on a better, more just solution to end chronic homelessness in Vermont.
