This commentary is by Derek Thomas, a South Burlington resident currently living in emergency housing through Vermont’s 211 program.  For nearly a year, I lived at Champlain Place, a low-barrier shelter in Burlington. Low-barrier shelters are designed to minimize the conditions someone must m eet before they can get a bed for the night. I entered believing it existed for one purpose: to help people experiencing homelessness regain stability and transition into permanent housing. I left believing the system is too often focused on managing homelessness rather than ending it. This is my perspective based on what I personally witnessed. During my time at the shelter, I watched residents be discharged with alarming frequency. If the purpose of a low-barrier shelter is to stabilize vulnerable Vermonters, then we should ask why so many people leave no better off than when they arrived. Vermonters should ask whether public funding is producing the outcomes taxpayers expect. Are we investing primarily in helping people obtain permanent housing, or are we funding a revolving door that cycles people from shelter back to the streets? Over approximately one year, I personally saw only three residents move into apartments. If my observation is representative, that should concern everyone. Success should be measured by exits to stable housing, not by occupancy rates or the number of people processed through the system. I also witnessed residents being discharged during severe winter weather, including periods of snow and dangerous temperatures. Whether those decisions complied with policy or not, I question whether they reflected the humanitarian mission that low-barrier shelters are intended to fulfill. Many residents possess very little. When they are discharged, their belongings may be lost or discarded. Mail may be returned to sender. For someone experiencing homelessness, that mail may include identification documents, prescription medication, benefit checks, legal correspondence or medical information. Losing those items can make it even harder to recover. One of my greatest concerns is the amount of discretion exercised by staff. In my experience, enforcement of rules appeared inconsistent. I observed residents facing discharge for what appeared to be relatively minor incidents involving contraband, such as items commonly associated with drug use. While shelters must maintain safety, the question remains whether immediate discharge is always the most effective or humane response, particularly for individuals struggling with addiction or mental illness. A low-barrier shelter should recognize that many residents arrive with complex trauma, disabilities, substance use disorders or serious medical conditions. The goal should not simply be rule enforcement. It should be helping people overcome the circumstances that led them there. After my own discharge, I believe I was not provided a meaningful opportunity to appeal the decision. I also experienced significant difficulties retrieving mail and medically important deliveries. Those events reinforced my belief that our current system often lacks adequate procedural safeguards for some of Vermont’s most vulnerable residents. Those matters are now the subject of legal proceedings, and I will allow the courts to determine the merits of my individual claims. Regardless of the outcome of my case, I believe Vermont should undertake an independent review of low-barrier shelters. READ MORE We should ask difficult questions: How many residents actually obtain permanent housing each year? How many are discharged back into homelessness? How often are appeals granted? How are residents with disabilities accommodated? What happens to residents’ mail, medications and belongings after discharge? Are publicly funded shelters being evaluated primarily on compliance metrics, or on successful housing outcomes? The measure of success should not be how efficiently we remove people from shelters. It should be how effectively we help them leave homelessness behind. Homeless Vermonters are not statistics. They are veterans, survivors of trauma, people with disabilities, workers, parents and neighbors. Most are seeking the same thing every one of us wants: a safe place to live and an opportunity to rebuild their lives. If our shelter system has become better at enforcing rules than creating pathways to permanent housing, then it is time to rethink what success truly looks like. Read the story on VTDigger here: Vermont’s low-barrier shelters are failing the people they were created to serve. ...read more read less