Burlington Council Calls for Deeper Dive Into Homeless Camping Policy 

The Burlington City Council is scrambling to prepare for an influx of unhoused people on city streets as the state winds down a pandemic-era motel shelter program in the next few weeks.

At its meeting on Monday, councilors took a modest step toward addressing the issue by calling for a study of the city’s existing camping policy. A resolution, which passed unanimously, also asks city staff to look into state funding to “alleviate the full cost of supporting the unhoused on city services.”

Democrats, who have a functional majority on the council, were poised to delay Monday's vote to give city and state officials more time to discuss the issue. But after 90 minutes of debate, including two recesses to hammer out a compromise, a plan finally took shape.

"It may be a little bit messy sometimes, but we saw democracy and collaboration in action," Council President Karen Paul (D-Ward 6) said. "I just want to give a huge shout-out to all of my colleagues for working so hard to get us to a place where we can all agree."
Council Progressives had been keen on altering the city's camping ordinance to make it more permissive for those who have nowhere else to turn. A previous draft proposed allowing people to camp on public lands — such as city-owned wooded areas — when shelters are full. It asked city staff to study such a proposal.

But Mayor Miro Weinberger, a Democrat, opposed that effort and wants to keep much of the current camping policy intact. It prohibits the practice on any city property aside from campgrounds such as the one at North Beach.

"Further study of sanctioned camping is a waste of valuable staff time and would send the wrong message to the public that this option is under serious consideration," Weinberger wrote in a memo to the council on Sunday.

Weinberger was at a conference and did not attend Monday's meeting, nor did Councilor Joan Shannon (D-South District).

The council resolution asks staff in the city’s Community & Economic Development Office to research how to improve the city’s policy, including by expanding access to public bathrooms and creating places for unhoused people to store their belongings. The measure also asks CEDO to consider allowing additional "sheltering options" in the county when traditional shelters are full. The resolution did not elaborate on those "sheltering options."

The council also agreed to hold a work session to discuss homelessness on June 5 — days after hundreds of people will be evicted from the motels. Another wave of evictions is expected on July 1 after state lawmakers declined to continue funding the pandemic-era program.
The Burlington debate over camping began in 2021, when the city shut down a large South End homeless encampment on Sears Lane. The decision sparked outcry from activists and prompted City Councilor Joe Magee (P-Ward 3) to draft a new policy that aimed to decriminalize camping on public lands. But the proposal languished in a council committee as members waited for a short-staffed city attorney's office to review the language. The attorney's review was due back in April 2022, but it wasn't completed until earlier this month.

Weinberger opposes Magee's plan, which proposed to allow camping on public lands unless the areas are "sufficiently posted." Encampments could be removed if they present health and safety risks, according to the proposal, which is now on the back burner.

On Monday night, councilors agreed that allowing camping is not a viable solution to ending homelessness. But many recognized that people are already living in tents and that the practice is likely to become more widespread once the motel program ends.

Everyone wants unhoused people to have permanent housing, Councilor Melo Grant (P-Central District) said, "but we don't have that option right now."

"We have all these things in the pipeline," she said, "and we have a crisis now."

Early in Monday's debate, other Progs charged that it would be uncaring to delay conversations on the homeless issue — an assertion Councilor Ben Traverse (D-Ward 5) rejected. He said Weinberger has taken significant steps to address homelessness, alluding to the city's effort to open a year-round low-barrier shelter and the creation of a "pod village" to house 30 chronically unhoused people. Traverse urged his colleagues to think of the issue as "not just a Burlington problem."

"It's a regional problem that we need to be addressing not just here at the city level but regionally, in partnership with our colleagues on selectboards, city councils and administrations around Burlington," he said.