Burlington warming shelter extends hours after winter weather

Read the full article at mychamplainvalley.com. Below is an excerpt.

The Champlain Valley Office of Economic Opportunity, a non-profit focused on social and economic justice, is extending its Burlington warming shelter hours to seven days a week.

While the state’s threshold to open warming shelters is -20, the non-profit, which runs on a combination of state funds, grants and donations, is attempting to keep their shelter open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily.“

Just in December alone, we had over 350 people experiencing homelessness come to the warming shelter here, to the community resource center, and almost 300 of them were literally outside or in their cars, not sheltered in any way,” said Adam Hall, CVOEO Homeless Outreach Services Coordinator.

A 2024 report from The Department of Housing and Urban Development, found that Vermont’s rate of homelessness per capita ranks fourth in the nation, with 53 out of every 10,000 Vermonters being unhoused at the time of data collection.

Hall says with the need growing at an alarming rate, he and others at the organization are considering the possibility of opening another emergency shelter. “We are viewing this as a public health crisis at this point,” he said.