 We're going to go ahead and get started. My name is Rebecca Lawrence Gomez. I work with Halfways Vermont, and I'm also the co-chairperson for the Vermont Coalition to End Homelessness. The Coalition to End Homelessness is a statewide group that's comprised of a broad array of stakeholders who are all committed to ending homelessness in Vermont. Vermonters face many complicated issues that are very difficult to solve. Homelessness is not one of them. We know how to end homelessness. Access to supports and a place to call home immediately relieve the experience of homelessness. On a given night, around 1,100 people in Vermont are homeless. For every one Vermonter who is experiencing homelessness, there are 500 of us who are not. 500 of us who should be supporting and changing that person's story. We know the solution to ending homelessness. Housing first ends homelessness. Safe housing, support services, and the financial means to pay for one's home is it. So those who are present or not here today and are experiencing homelessness, I'm sorry. I am committed to supporting you in getting home. For the rest of us, and especially those among us who are elected officials representing our communities, let us eliminate the experience of homelessness in 2020. Invest in services and housing that we know is effective. I don't want to see any of us here next year for another vigil on homelessness. I hope that we are together and we are celebrating Vermont's first anniversary of ending homelessness in our state. Thank you. Thank you, Rebecca. My name is Sarah Russell, and I am the co-chair of the Chittin County Homeless Alliance in Burlington, which is a group of service providers, housing providers, and people from the community and people who are experiencing homelessness coming together collaboratively to solve homelessness. I want to echo Rebecca's commitment to working diligently to end homelessness. I want to recognize that housing is a human right and something that not just the folks who are working at it should be invested in, but also all of us as a community. And while we work hard to support those experiencing homelessness to move to permanent, stable, safe, and supported housing, I want to acknowledge those who are living in the woods, on the streets, in motels, and shelters, and for those who may have passed away before they are able to find a place to call home. So I'd like to take a moment of silence for those folks to hold them. Thank you. We have a series of speakers who would like to share with the community their investment in ending homelessness. Our first speaker is Representative Mitzi Johnson, who's speaker of the House. Hello. I want to start by really deeply earnestly thanking all of the advocates here in the front row. It is fantastic to see all of you. It's fantastic to see more young people stepping up and saying, this is the Vermont we want to create. This is what's right for our state, and we want to speak out about it. So for starters, let's thank these folks for being here and taking time to say what's important to them. They are their future. I don't know how many years I've been coming to this, and I continue to hold the same hope that you are, that next year is our first annual celebration of being without homelessness in our state. We have this confluence of factors with rising real estate prices, rising rental costs, stagnant wages, and a very lopsided distribution of wealth, not only in the country but in our state, that are all working against all of our collective good work to try to make sure that everybody has a safe, stable roof over their home. We will, in the legislature, we've been having quite a number of conversations this year about the next steps that we can take. We're excited to see how many people are now moving into the homes being created from our housing bond a few years ago, and we're looking to see what those next steps are to be able to continue to create more housing, continue to keep people in their housing, and continue to make sure that folks have a place that gives them the environment they need to be successful in life, to be able to learn when they go to school, to be able to deal with their addiction or other health issues, to be able to succeed, to be good employees, to start businesses. Housing is one of those foundational keystones that helps everything else happen. Really appreciate all of you being here today to continue to speak in favor of all of our collective efforts in those areas. And I know there are many of my colleagues here want to echo that it's something that across political lines, we are all in support of trying to end homelessness in the state and make sure that people can live their full potential by having that stability in their lives. So thank you for all of your good work and really appreciate having your voices here, making sure that all of your representatives and senators know how you feel so that we can move forward on this issue together. Thank you. Thank you. Before we introduce the next speaker, I'd also like to recognize Polly Major, Sheila Reed and Tiffin Dean with Lacey's office, Sanders office and Welch's office today. Our next speaker is Senator Tim Ash. Our next speaker is Senator Tim Ash, who's president for Time Up the Senate. So thank you all for being here and for your advocacy. I had the good fortune of meeting with some of you a little bit earlier today and you taught me more than I thought I could learn about homelessness in all of its various forms. So thank you guys. I'd like to say that all the students in Chittenden County are as bright as the ones from Essex. Today I'm saying Essex is number one. So great job. I'm going to give the briefest, perhaps, political statement I've made in my career and it really echoes both the speaker and the hosts of this event, which is to say oftentimes we think about issues of homelessness or poverty and we try to devise programs to make it easier for people who are suffering homelessness or poverty or addiction or any of the other things that afflict people. And on behalf of the Senate, I just want to be very clear. Our goal is not to manage homelessness, it's to end homelessness. It's not to manage poverty, it's to end poverty in our state. And I'm so glad that not only do we have some of the grownups here who work very hard on these issues, but we have a next generation of people who are going to join us in that cause. So thank you all. Thank you. Next I'd like to invite Lieutenant Governor David Zuckerman to speak. Thank you, Rebecca and all the other organizers who put this together every year. I know Airhards involved and many others. First, of course, it becomes a broken record, but we shouldn't be here every year. And I do also feel that same sentiment that managing homelessness, managing economic distress, managing challenges that people are facing is not the goal. Our goal is to end it. And really what we have to start talking about is as a society, what are our values? Are we, as Rebecca said, the 500 to one, are we unwilling to open up our capacity to make it possible to have enough housing built? It is a decision we are making when we don't advocate for more resources to go to these arenas of building housing, of weatherizing homes. Are we willing to give a little more of our resources to make that possible? That's the societal question we face. And until we say yes, we're gonna continue to have this challenge. That's the bottom line. Are we also willing to say, I recognize and understand that the minimum wage needs to be increased so that people are not working 50 and 60 hours a week and still being unable to afford to live in a home. Some of them are still living in their cars because our wages are so low in some areas that they can't afford a home. These are decisions that we make in this building, but we make them based on our societal sentiment. And so you're being here today helps change that conversation because you are saying, I believe in being here, that you're part of our society that says, yes, we are willing to do this. We support changing our economic system so that everybody earns enough to have a home over their head. That's the conversation we need to be having. Thank you. Thank you, Lieutenant Governor. I'd also like to thank the State Treasurer, Beth Pierce for being present, thank you. And also the HUD Regional Administrator, David Tilley is with us. Next, I'd like to invite the Secretary of the Agency of Human Services, Mike Smith. Thank you very much and welcome, founders. My two daughters went to founders and it's great to see you here at this event. Just so you know, they went on to be active in their local communities. One is a special ed teacher and the other is a professor in physics at the Colorado School of Mines. And I was hoping they'd moved back to Vermont but they haven't yet. You know, one of the first things I did when I became Secretary and I've been Secretary about two months is to visit homeless shelters. And I thought that was very important. I visited the homeless shelter in Burlington, downtown Burlington. And I also visited Spectrum because having safe, stable, affordable housing is critical to the health and wellbeing of all Vermonters. And as Governor Scott, when Governor Scott appointed me, he made it a point to say, this is one of my priorities. And I gotta tell you, when you visit a homeless shelter, you get a whole sense of what we need to do in order to combat homelessness. We've got to increase access to affordable housing. You know, AHS working with its partners on affordable housing, those state and local partners is critical to ensure that most Vermonters have access to the scarce affordable housing through federal subsidies and other things that we can do. We've got to provide a safe emergency response and we've got assurance, effective and coordinated crisis response when individuals and families find themselves in a situation where they are homeless. We've got to be quick and we've got to be decisive of finding that response. Also we can't neglect those that find ourselves in the criminal justice system. And therefore, for example, the Department of Corrections partners with Pathways Vermont, the Fund Pathways to Vermont to provide affordable housing. We need to, once somebody finds themselves homeless, we as Vermonters need to find, and my agency in particular needs to find, a way to surround those people with the support system that they need. Not only homeless homes and housing, but the other needs that they may need as well. And we need to leverage all that support to make sure that they succeed in their day to day activities. My agency has six departments and we're guided by the AHS policy of housing stability and Vermont's plan to prevent and end homelessness as well as ending family homelessness framework. It is an important aspect of the agency. And I wanna thank all the representatives and senators that were here today, all the state officials, all the founder kids that were here today, and everybody. Because this is such a critical aspect of life is having a stable and safe place to live. Thank you very much. Thank you, Mr. Smith. Next I would like to invite a veteran with lived experience, David Purpersky. Hello everyone. I would like to comment on the artwork. It is extraordinary beautiful. A lot of people have already said a few things about it. But as an artist, an activist, even as a homeless fair. I looked at this artwork and it says a lot. It says that you're speaking from your heart and you all work together to create this. And I think that's the key to ending homelessness, to speak from your heart and work together because that'll create a solution. I think the main two problems with, amongst others is the low wages and high rents. That's the primary contributors to homelessness. I think that'll be a good place to start. And then also for those who have become homeless I think also the key is housing first. There's a lot of strategies and tactics and such and politics and funding. I think it's really, really, really complicated. But when you're homeless, housing first is the most important. So I'd like to thank everybody for being here and once again, this was some really beautiful artwork. Thanks. I'd like to recognize all of our representatives who are here today who do such valuable work on homelessness and other issues that face folks in poverty as well. Our next speaker is Representative Ann Pugh. I am Ann Pugh and I chair the House Human Services Committee. And it's really exciting to be here to speak to the choir. You are the ones who have educated us and you are the ones who are advocating. Making sure that everyone has safe, affordable housing, benefits all of us by creating a stronger and more productive society where everyone can contribute and when all of us benefits. Everyone has a right to be treated with dignity and dignity means access to food and housing. Let's commit to protecting this essential need, this essential human need. Right now, as you've told us and what we have heard, way too many Vermonters are homeless. Forced to sleep on couches or on floors in friends' houses, to live in unsafe places, to hide out in 24-hour places, to live in their cars and on the streets. We can do better, we will do better. And if the choir continues to sing and you continue to sing louder, we will do better. Thank you for your help in joining us. Thank you, Representative. Again, I do want to acknowledge and thank all of the senators and representatives who are present and here with us today. We appreciate your presence and we appreciate your support and we look forward to the changes that will be coming this year that will support all of us in ending homelessness and kids you guys are doing awesome. Fourth graders are the best. You're racking it. Jump around and step, move a bit to help stay warm. A little bit worried about some of you. Okay, next we're gonna invite Stephen Marshall to come and share with us. In Burlington, Vermont, in the state of Vermont, and I love you. Boy, aren't you amazing? Thank you for coming to our vigil, for the homeless, my friends. Thank you, legislators, advocates and esteemed guests and especially fourth graders. Thank you for standing with the community of those we call homeless, those more properly called unhoused. Thank you especially for those of you who are without housing, who got here today. You made a special effort to get here and this vigil is for you. We are here today to think about, feel about and remember you, the raunchers who in their daily lives have to ask, how will I stay safe today? How will I keep my possessions safe? How will I eat today? Where can I park my car so it won't get towed away? How can I get my car out of impoundment? How can I get my children to school? Where will I sleep tonight? We are here today, all of us, to remember you because we want better for you. So let us remember my friends, people who pay into the ends of their profit, those who rent and pay mortgages are given permission to claim a space of their own. But if you can't work, if you can't pay, if you refuse to work two jobs, just to give all your money to a landlord or a bank, if you can't manage your life, racked as you are by trauma or living in the misery of mental illness, if you are broken and have no resources, or if you have been driven from your home by domestic violence, you can't get that permission. So you sleep in places that aren't your own. You sleep in public, on a sidewalk or in a parking garage where someone who is cruel can kick you or worse, where someone also desperate can steal your few possessions or someone too privileged to see themselves in that huddle on the ground might complain to the police. You sleep in public in a car where you worry about being rousted from the depths of sleep. You sleep in a dumpster that is warm yet deadly. You sleep scrambling from couch to floor from friend to friend. And the question, where can I sleep that is safe? Hangs like a cloud over the entire day because there is no place for you to rest that is your own. Let me tell you, your community does aspire to house you in hard wall housing. They were talking about it here today. But if your community had the will, a sufficient will to build that housing, a sufficient will to make that housing affordable to people living on social security or a minimum wage job, if your community had the will to produce housing that someone working from her car or bouncing from couch to couch could afford, if your community had the will to produce housing a drunk or the addict would want, then we could put everyone in hard wall housing and we would not be sleeping in cars and tents. Then we could impart to all of you the dignity and safety of your own locked door and then the sidewalk, lawn, ATM booth, tent or broken down camper would not be part of our continuum of housing. But they are. And living outdoors under bridges, in tents, cars, campers and dumpsters, sleeping on a blanket thrown on the ground are solutions that we the greater community resort to. Our solutions in our continuum of housing and our solutions we your community need to plan for. With safe places for camping, parking and bedding down with enough safe humane shelters for adults, couples, dog owners, youth, for she or he fleeing domestic violence, for the addicted, the person in recovery, the person with social anxiety or disability, for the LGBTQ plus person, the traumatized or the mentally ill. So let us write a homeless bill of protections that guarantees safe parking and safe camping in every community across the state of Vermont. Let us write a homeless bill of protections that can comfort you as you search for that safe place to sleep each night. I'd like to recognize all of the, we are committed to ending homelessness in all of our communities across the state. I'd like to recognize Vermont State Housing Authority, Housing Vermont, BHCB and VHFA for being here and for their commitment in this as well. We can't end homelessness without housing for sure. One of you wonderful people was who said it because I'm trying not to shiver while I'm standing out here but the children who are here, you guys are the next generation of leaders and I just want to say how courageous you are and how brave you are to come here today, especially for two young people who are here who are going to speak to us as well. The first speaker is Amelia Canazaro and these students are fourth graders from Founders School. When the t-shirt has decided to go first, this is Noah Wargo. He's the fourth graders from Founders Memorial School in Essex. Over the past two months, we have been working on a service learning project where we could address a social issue of our choice. We have chose to address homelessness in Vermont. This is an issue that we are all passionate about. We want to end homelessness and are thankful to everyone here today who is helping us to do that. Now Amelia's gonna read a short poem about what home means to us. Home is warmth, home is safety. What would you do if you didn't have a home? There are so many people who don't have homes. When you just drive past them, stop and think. We need to help them. If we have helped already, we should do it more. Together, we will end homelessness. Amelia, I'm supposed to follow that, thank you. So you're in fourth grade. I don't want to speak to the adults right now. I just want to speak to the kids for a second. You're in fourth grade? Yeah. Is it cold? There are people, as you know, from your service learning project that wouldn't find a place to stay tonight because it's not cold enough. And that could be children your age who are doing this, who might be sleeping in cars, who might be sleeping in someone else's house, who might be sleeping in play, who may not be sleeping because they can't sleep. Or they might be in a hotel room where they don't have a good place to do their homework. You're still, I mean, fourth grade, they still let you do homework, right? Yeah. They still make you do homework? Yeah. So if there are kids who are in that position, sometimes kids in school bully them or they make fun of them when they find out that they don't have a home because they're different than you. And I hope that one of the elements of your service learning is to look at them and say that they're no different than you. The fact that they don't have a place is not anything that should stand out that changes them as a person. But it does make an impact on whether they're gonna be good students, healthy students and productive members who can recite the same thing that you just did. So if you can do that in your service learning project, I know it will go a long way to becoming a future leader in the state of Vermont because things get weird when you get to be an adult. And there are things like, what is two and two to you? What is two and two equal? Well, when I'm in this building, sometimes it doesn't equal four. And when I say the sky is blue, sometimes the sky isn't blue to some people. We have different language sometimes. We see things in different ways. We have different ways of interpreting the issues that are in front of us. So when we say that we know how to end homelessness, we do, it's in paper. We have it written down. We know exactly how to end homelessness and that's to provide more housing. And the way we provide more housing is that we need more money to do it. And the money is there through systems that we've already set up and that we don't use properly. So that's just an adult way for you guys to tell us to get the job done, speak the same language, and so that we can get more people and more people and more people into home so that they can have the same opportunities you have in school to be the future leaders in our state. So with that, I feel like I'm sitting at the kids' table, but I'm gonna go back to work. You guys go back to work. Adults, you go back to work. Make sure that we do the work that we've been asked to do, which is to make sure that we do all that we can to make sure that people are sleeping in their own beds tonight and every night. Thank you. I'm gonna close this up real quick at one o'clock at the back of the House chamber. We'll be reading a resolution on ending homelessness. Thank you again to all of you who are present, those of you who are currently experiencing homelessness, those who have historically kids. Great job, Amelia Noia. Thank you, representatives and senators. Thank you all.