A recent documentary confronting the realities of housing and food insecurity in Vermont was screened for free at the Big Picture Theater in Waitsfield on Thursday, October 17. Vermont filmmaker Bess O’Brien’s film, “Just Getting By,” was followed by a short panel discussion, including reflections from a Valley resident who was previously unhoused and documented in the film.
O’Brien said she started working on “Just Getting By” in 2022 after learning that Vermont has the second highest rate of per capita homelessness in the United States, which shocked her. She also wanted to dispel the pervasive myth that unhoused Vermonters can pull themselves out of homelessness and poverty if they only tried.
Her film points to rising housing costs and increased income inequality as the grounds on which so many people struggle to access basic resources. As Kim Anetsberger of the Lamoille Community House says in the film, “you can’t budget yourself out of homelessness, or poverty.”
Much of “Just Getting By” follows individuals through food shelves and community kitchens that offer free meals, with interviewees detailing how the rising cost of food has become unsustainable.
It also chronicles housing insecurity – with a specific focus on the state’s General Assistance Emergency Housing Program, in which eligible Vermonters were given vouchers to stay in motel and hotel rooms beginning in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic.
CHALLENGES OF NAVIGATING PROGRAM
During a panel discussion following the film, a current Valley resident who was featured in the film while being housed under the voucher program for 18 months reflected on the challenges of navigating that program. She said she left her previous residence when the property owner’s family member came to occupy the unit, and without a formal eviction notice from her landlord, struggled to prove eligibility for a voucher.
Similarly, she said that maintaining eligibility in state assistance programs is a struggle while unhoused, losing access to mail services and other resources – that “all it takes is me not filling out one of the papers on time, and I will lose it all.” She recalled telling a family member at one point, “I feel like I’m not even a person anymore.”
“Just Getting By” leaves off in the spring of 2024, when the state reduced the voucher program and began evicting tenants – many with no place to go. Although the program was extended shortly after, the Legislature imposed an 80-day limit on vouchers and reduced eligibility to those with disabilities, elders, and families. Over 1,000 people were evicted again this fall.
SITUATION IS WORSE
The situation today is “worse than it’s ever been,” said Rick DeAngelis of Good Samaritan Haven – an organization that provides over 80 shelter beds and street outreach across central Vermont – during the panel discussion.
In the past few months, state officials and service providers have called on the Scott administration to open state-owned buildings for use as temporary shelters, allow encampments on state-owned land and take other measures. Montpelier city manager Bill Fraser said in a September press conference that Vermont’s unhoused population has grown from 1,100 to 3,458 in just four years.
The administration has repeatedly stated that the current cost of the emergency housing program, which was expanded through an increase of federal funds during the pandemic, is not financially feasible for the state.
The state may set up temporary shelters in Waterbury, Montpelier, and Williston this fall, but few details are currently available.
An interviewee in the film said that housing and food shortages, and the paucity of social services, creates an experience for so many of “not having a soft place to fall.”
During the panel, DeAngelis said that in the short-term, Vermonters can familiarize themselves with local resources, contact Governor Scott’s office to voice concerns about housing and continue to have public conversations around these issues.
Chrissy Rivers, executive director of the Waitsfield mental health care organization Hannah’s House, said the film challenged and nuanced her understanding around homelessness in Vermont, adding that “everyone should consider viewing the film to become better informed and able to advocate for change.”
Although “Just Getting By” doesn’t have an explicit focus on mental health, interviewees speak frequently about the social and emotional repercussions of economic insecurity.
Rivers agreed that “existing without a home is undoubtedly impacting mental health.”
The panel discussion also included Casey Engels of Capstone Community Action and was moderated by Rachel Wylie-Fenton.
