 So I'm Michael Monti, I'm the CEO of Champlain Housies Trust. They've basically asked me to emcee this afternoon, so I'm just basically going to do that right now and I'm going to introduce Maro Weinberg, our mayor of Burlington. Good afternoon folks, thanks Michael. Thank you all for being here. It's really exciting to be up here with this big group. In a moment we're going to hear from Juana Matias, who's the regional administrator for HUD New England. We also have Carrie Duquette Hoffman from the Vermont Agency of Human Services, Field Services Director, who is a great partner in many areas and I think we're going to let Michael come back to the microphone and maybe your emcee instructions say we're going to hear from more people as well. Thank you to our federal delegation for all being represented here too. I want to at the start here recognize the city team members that have been working so hard on this project and on the issue of homelessness. Sarah Russell, who's our special assistant to end homelessness is here. Samantha Dunn, our assistant director for community works, who's really our our real estate person who's really led the the physical project of getting this created and we also Marcella Ganje, who is, where'd Marcella go? She's talking to neighbors back there and she's been at this for a long time. Thank you also Sarah Carpenter, the ward for city counselor and I think I know that many other counselors wanted to be here too. They've been very committed to this project. Today's event is an important demonstration of the unique moment we're in. It's a moment in which the city is closely aligned with our state and federal partners in prioritizing investment systems change and urgent action that is required to make good on the promise of housing as a human right. It really it's you know it was just Juan and I were just chatting getting ready here today. It is exciting to be so aligned on this goal of reducing homelessness. AHS has been very hands-on in the creation of this. It really does feel like one of those moments that is having done this for a decade now. I think rare that we have such strong partnerships at all level of government. This site is a testament to that and to that shared commitment. When open the Elmwood emergency shelter community will provide emergency shelter and essential support services for up to 35 of our most vulnerable neighbors and will serve as a critical resource as we continue working through the challenges ahead. You know I've always believed that our housing shortage and the dramatic increase in homelessness that we've seen in recent decades is a are really problems that are driven by long-standing policy decisions about land use about mental health and about how we create our institutions and these are policies that we can fix and throughout my time as mayor the city team has really been very focused on on doing the barriers to abundant and affordable housing in our city and to making the system serve the chronically homeless better. Some just you know quick examples of that are changing the way we do permitting in the downtown to make it possible for all projects affordable projects and market rate projects to get permits and get them quickly eliminating wasteful parking requirements creating a coordinated entry system so that all the organizations that are working on homelessness have shared information. Despite those and many other efforts of the last decade the collision of COVID-19 with the long-standing you know decades in the making severe housing shortage has meant that this moment in many ways the problem is worse than ever. Hundreds of Burlingtonians are living in chronic homelessness which is way up from before the pandemic. We have the lowest vacancy rate we have seen in decades we for years we're very concerned about a low vacancy rate it's dropped down to 0.5% and we know that way too many of our neighbors are suffering and our businesses are suffering too our organizations they are struggling to to hire folks and keep folks because of the the tightness of the the housing challenge right now so that's why nearly a year ago now I announced a new 10-point action plan to fulfill the promise of housing as a human right here in Burlington and this action plan has two cornerstone goals the doubling of housing production over the next five-year period starting a year ago and ending chronic homelessness in Burlington by 2025 the HUD-House America partnership that we're we're here to talk about today is very again it's very much aligned and really on point with those priorities and we we've made sort of within our kind of broader goals we made some specific commitments to HUD and in February of this year we made a commitment to House America to re-house 66 homeless households and to build eight new homeless dedicated units within a year and I am pleased to share today that we have fulfilled that commitment between May and September of this year 108 households were placed in permanent housing in Chittenden County through the coordinated entry system seven new homeless dedicated units have been created which isn't quite eight but we're expecting 20 more to come online by February the year milestone through the Vermont Housing Improvement Program which is a state program funded by ARPA and administered by the Champlain Housing Trust which provides direct financial support for private landlords to improve existing rental properties if they accept the referrals through the local coordinated entry system looking a little further downfield we know that at least 39 new homes dedicated to housing formerly homeless individuals are in construction in the construction timeline right now and slated to open by the end of 2025 and that is a number for this period that we're focusing on pushing up even further as we go forward now finally in terms of progress over the last year we know that success is not just about building homes we have also made major investments in improving and expanding our system for reducing chronic homelessness we have made new investments in that coordinated entry system we created just a few years ago with with the Chittenden County Continuum of Care the city has dramatically expanded its community service Liaison program which are individuals with service backgrounds that are working for the police departments and are working directly with chronically homeless individuals in this community and as I noted at the top we have created and hired a great special assistant to end homelessness and Sarah Russell to ensure that we keep driving this progress forward you know in short in the kind of first year of this effort there are significant signs of momentum and we know we have a lot of work left to do in order to deliver on the promise of housing as a human right to house everyone we need to stay focused on this dual approach of building as many new homes of all types as we can and continuing to strengthen and improve this the system for serving the homeless this is exciting work I'm proud of how far the city's come in recent months but you know again we have a lot more to do and we're very grateful to have such strong local state and federal partners to get this work done and with that I guess I'll have Michael come back to introduce our next speaker thank you very much mayor and I want to introduce the HUD Regional Administrator Housing and Urban Development is what HUD stands for Juanita Matias good afternoon everyone it's always a joy to come to Vermont this is my second visit and I really appreciate Mayor Weinberger you always provide me a warm welcome and anytime I'm here I see our private non-profit local state and federal partners coming together to really address a need I want to thank Mike for the introduction as we all know housing is a critical pillar of our society it's foundational to the health of our families communities and our economy I want to thank my mayor Weinberger and Brian Pine from the office of community and economic development for your leadership and for all you have done to prioritize ending homelessness in Burlington and a special thank you to Sarah Russell and Marcella Gange for all you do to support the homeless population in Burlington and also I must must must acknowledge my incredible team here in Vermont a special thanks to Sean Thomas who is our HUD Vermont State Director and our program analyst Katie Blanchard for all you do to advance HUD's mission in the state and to provide services for the residents of Burlington look at HUD we are focused on housing and community development with a dedication to equity inclusive communities quality and affordable homes for all today I am proud to be here with all of you to spotlight the House America collaborative effort this partnership is a perfect example of what is possible when we leverage federal state and local resources and private funding to address a crucial need in our community that is what we set out to do when we began House America back in 2022-21 we called on mayors tribal leader county leaders governors to address our nation's home nation's homelessness crisis with historic American rescue plan investments and other federal state and local resources and Mayor Wineburger and Burlington answered that call we are reaffirming today that commitment and celebrating the progress you have made here in rehousing homeless individuals and creating more affordable housing boosting the supply of a quality of housing is every in every community is the top priority of president Biden secretary fudge and HUD construction and investment for affordable housing preservation through HUD's rental assistance demonstration program or known as rad has surpassed $15 billion nationwide since the program's inception in 2013 public housing authorities across the nation have leveraged this program to obtain this financing for the construction rehabilitation and preservation of affordable rental homes for low-income families seniors and persons with disabilities and Burlington has stepped up to the challenge and surpassed their original goals by not only preserving the current stock of affordable units but also developing new units and making sure we have a pipeline to meet the need we know that housing is fundamental to ensuring thriving communities and economic prosperity we must constantly continue to find ways to align the federal state and local government to induce policies that reduce housing costs so we can ensure more affordable rents more attainable equitable home ownership opportunities within our communities at HUD we look forward to continuing to work together with Burlington and its partners to continue to advance house america and create inclusive communities thank you so much for having me i really appreciate this partnership and partnership and i look forward to coming back thanks i appreciate the drive up and hopefully come back every year to see how we're doing i'm going to be able to now introduce Kerry Duquette Hoffman field services director for the Vermont agency of human services who is a big partner in this project hello i'd like to start by introducing my colleague Dave Regal who is the newly hired um housing policy and planning director at the agency of human services it's important to mention his hire because i want to underscore how important housing is in Vermont and to to the secretary and to our agency i'd like to thank the city of Burlington and the fabulous CEDO team who've already been thanked quite a bit today um for really uh taking on a new project and trying something creative and ingenuitive i'd also like to thank Mayor Weinberger the Champlain housing trust and the other agencies that stepped up to partner on this project CBOEO's core core team the turning point center of Chittenden county community health center of Burlington and Vermont criminal justice reform it takes an active network of creative providers to work on housing in Vermont and i'm so thankful we are so thankful that this team has stepped up and is working on this project our communities are healthier and safer when every every Burmaner has shelter we appreciate the efforts each community has made has made across the state to address homelessness this is a challenge that takes many approaches and each approach is valued this project meets a critical shelter need in Burlington and in Chittenden county as a whole um we appreciate the city's rapid work it's been so quick i know for those enmeshed in it it probably doesn't feel as quick but it has been really quick work um to learn from the successful efforts like this in washington wisconsin and massachusetts this is a critical component of the state's efforts to ensure that vermoners have access to flexible options and services that address the diverse needs throughout through the pandemic relief recovery funding Vermont Vermont's traditional and sorry and Vermont's traditional housing investments the state has been able to preserve or create 2000 units of affordable housing this will happen by 2026 but we actually anticipate that it may happen even even sooner than that this will double the amount of existing units thank you so much for your work efforts and uh i want to recognize david regal who worked at cht we hired him at the end of march right when the pandemic was starting david was leaving we ran after him said you know what we have a job for you and we hired him on the spot and he uh he led uh cht's work uh throughout the last couple years during the pandemic opening up motels closing down motels opening up motels shifting staffing and did a great job and so a hs you owe us some money for this one i'm looking for the trade uh so let me take a few moments before i invite up representatives of the congressional delegation just to say a few words first i want to recognize the mayor and the mayor's team for the work that they've done and and just the creation of the elmond avenue shelter community our part of the process has begun and we intend to bring years of hopefully of management experience to the shelter giving the unhoused a chance to move from shelter into permanently affordable homes that is our goal this community will be managed by the same team as our 58 motel rooms in shell burn but we are in the process simply of hiring new staff so if anybody is looking for work they should contact cht we still have some positions open but people do need permanent housing and at this time we have 560 apartments in various stages of development um in burlington colchester williston south burlington shell burn st albin's and a pretty pretty hefty pipeline to meet the needs of affordable housing overall and over over 180 of those apartments will be reserved for people who are homeless uh next month 38 will become available in williston uh at december this opening december 1st and soon after another 20 in south burlington so we're doing the best we can to move people out of shelter into permanently affordable housing and along with our natural turnover rate apartments that become available because people are moving out and moving on and within cht we intend to house over 300 homeless households over the next few years so we hope to do our part knowing that others in the city and in the state and the county are doing that part as well let me say a few words about uh v hit the vermont housing improvement program it's an important part of the efforts to meet the goals of hud's housing america initiative this program is making improvements to vacant and substand housing and making those apartments available to homeless households for a period of time at cht we have 60 apartments right now underway um that are under contract of consideration and for the state of vermont there are hundreds more so that is a great program that is really lending the effort so i i've been told that i have five more minutes before the rain starts so i want to go to say i want to go in order if i could have tom barry from senator lehi sassy a few words five minutes split three ways okay um a minute and a half and then thank you regional administrative for another trip to vermont november is the best time really to visit um you know on behalf of senator lehi uh the senators worked with uh congressman wells and senator sanders as well and you know as led by president biden to provide in the last few years and unprecedented infusion of resources to help uh states and local governments address interactable problems and um if there's a more interactable and difficult and complicated yet important and urgent problem than homelessness you know i'm not sure what that would be and so thank you and congratulations to hud and to the state and to the city and to all the nonprofit sector everybody who has stepped up and made sure that this infusion of resources which i won't say was the easy part but really getting busy and putting these dollars to work on the ground this quickly is is great it's important house america will follow through on that the delegation heard that some of the treasury rules were um not the best and went to work on on fixing that others may have more to say about that but there's a real opportunity now uh is playing out here and um you know just just thank you to everybody involved with uh making this reality and and helping to make sure that the resources that have been provided are going to be well used thank you chump and i'm now for senator lehi erhard manka what did i say senator sanders again no problem michael thank you uh thanks michael um on behalf of uh again my name is erhard manka i'm with uh senator sanders office uh just to make sure we got that right uh on behalf of senator sanders uh i want to thank like others uh thank uh mayor weinberger our champlain housing trust uh the community economic development office really everyone who's been involved in uh making possible the completion of these 30 much needed new shelters for our unhoused neighbors uh in the winter of 1982 as mayor of burlington senator sanders gathered a group of volunteers together to address the growing then growing homeless population in burlington uh which led to the creation of the committee on temporary shelter tragically 40 years later almost 600 000 people are still living on the streets in our country on any given night and over 2000 people are living in emergency motels shelters and encampments here in vermont as senator sanders would say that is simply unacceptable senator sanders knows that decent safe and affordable housing is a basic human right and is essential for a person's ability to live with dignity and succeed in their lives period today too many americans including far too many vermonters do not have a safe and affordable place to call home senator sanders has long understood the value of HUD and other federal resources in creating more affordable housing opportunity community and equity for all as chair of the senate budget committee he fought hard to make sure that vermont and its cities and towns got their fair share of american rescue plan funds and is pleased to see this invaluable federal resource being put to good use providing shelter and services for some of the most vulnerable among us he looks forward to the success of the goals of the elmwood emergency shelter to provide residents with refuge from the elements their own four walls electricity heat and air conditioning access to services and sanitary facilities and a path to permit affordable housing thanks again to HUD for initiating house america to the mayor and city for joining this important initiative and congratulations again to everyone involved in making this much-needed project a reality thank you thank you and finally tiffine dean congressman welch still hi everyone my name is tiffine dean i'm an outreach representative for congressman welch's office and i work on housing policy congressman welch senses regrets that he couldn't be here with you all today as some of you may know peter began his career as a kennedy fellow working on racial discrimination in housing in chicago he and his colleagues worked with black residents who were denied mortgages because of their race in congress peter has continued to advocate on housing provisions and needs and resources he was a strong advocate for the funding and resources in the american rescue plan that fund helped fund this project as peter always says his job in congress is ensure that vermont gets all the resources and funding the projects like this needs but the hard work is done at the community and so he sends his gratitude to everyone in the city of berlington mayor weinberger administrator matias thank you for visiting and he looks forward to visiting the site and seeing all the residents of this beautiful place these homes will provide stability and safety for the most for the most in need at their most vulnerable so peter is very grateful for all the efforts so thank you thank you okay so we'll take any questions anybody from press have any questions we're glad to and then with the staffing levels um if you were not able to hire as many can you still open is there any potential of delaying let's just say we're optimistic that we're going to have the staffing we need you know and and we have a we have a certain capacity within cht to move folks around we hope we don't have to do that but we we believe we're going to be able to get there administrator how unique is this housing pod concept for meeting homelessness needs especially under the housing america provisions yeah in region one this is the first pod thank you for the question um in region one the six new england states which i oversee this is the first pod model that i've seen i think you've seen a lot of repurposing hotels to meet the need but it is great to see how the mayor is partnering with hud on our house america plan to meet the need in a very timely manner right in light of the elements in the changing weather that will be occurring here in vermont um and i think i agree with what mike said it's about getting homeless individuals and families into permanent housing but in the meantime how are we providing them the resources and the shelter that they need to be safe um and well so now that you've seen this what potential do you think this could mean yeah no when we come out to sites like this these are models that could be scaled you know when i visit communities and i get to see the work that's happening on the ground it's we don't have to recreate the wheel there's best practices so i look forward to sharing this uh this innovation that's happening this collaboration that's happening here with these pods and hopefully we can see other communities and cities um take this on i was just sharing with mayor weinberger as i was coming in he's like oh but all communities are doing this and i'm like no they're not you should be proud i've been to communities where they're saying the homeless population isn't our concern they're not from our city they should not be here and so i commend uh burlington and mayor weinberg and all of our federal and state partners for saying they're voters they're our neighbors they could be our friend and what are we doing to meet the need and so this is a great example and i look forward to highlighting this um with our hq partners and also partners across region one thank you no i look forward to i'm like when are we going to wrap up questions because i want to peek in and get to see what it looks like inside and we know right this is temporary the goal should be permanent and i loved hearing from mike and mayor weinberger about wraparound services we know that are um homeless individuals are facing mental health substance abuse behavioral needs and so making sure we have a one-stop shop here to meet those needs and get people into permanent housing is the ultimate goal and one that the biden harris administration um firmly stands by thank you anybody else excellent we did it before the rain came