🏠Vermont's homeless count dipped to 3,286, but Chittenden County's rose 1%

If you've wondered whether homelessness is easing, it's a mixed picture. The annual point-in-time count found 3,286 Vermonters homeless in January, exactly 100 fewer than the same night in 2025. Chittenden County went the other way, with 834 people, up 1%.

• Unsheltered: 284 people, a 5% jump
• Children: up 5%, about 20% of those counted
• Motel program: more than two-thirds of emergency shelter users
• Serious mental illness: about a third of those counted

Advocates call it an undercount. Taylor Thibault of Champlain Housing Trust said people staying with friends or family, or in encampments outreach teams can't reach, may not be reflected. The motel program is changing after June's legislation, and Chad Simmons of the Housing & Homelessness Alliance of Vermont said groups hope to work with the Agency of Human Services on emergency housing this winter. Their agenda includes fixes to the law, permanently affordable housing and eviction prevention.