Frequently Asked Questions

Burlington Forward is a proposed policy framework, not a single new program. It asks the City to coordinate work across several areas:

• shelter, treatment, recovery, housing navigation, and behavioral health services;

• Public safety staffing and visible public space response;

• regional and State responsibility for homelessness, treatment, and public safety;

• temporary emergency shelter or sanctioned camping when established shelters lack capacity;

• faster, more consistent responses to unlawful conduct and prohibited encampments;

• Public space programming, maintenance, and positive community use; and

• public reporting so residents can see what is working and what needs to change.

The framework is intended to align support, accountability, public health, and public safety rather than treating them as competing values. See the preamble and Article I.

No. The proposal was released publicly as a starting point for discussion and is scheduled to be introduced to the City Council on Aug 3. The Democratic Caucus has said it expects the resolution to be refined as it moves through the legislative process, including review by relevant Council committees.

That process should include the Mayor and her administration, Police and Fire personnel, service providers, people with lived experience, civil rights and recovery advocates, other councilors, and most importantly, members of the public.

No. The resolution does not make homelessness, poverty, addiction, or mental illness itself a crime. It creates no new criminal offense and no new power to arrest or imprison someone simply because they are unhoused.

The resolution distinguishes a person’s status from a person’s conduct. Its enforcement provisions concern conduct that is already unlawful, including drug trafficking, unlawful open drug use, theft, violence, threats, and vandalism. It provides, in pertinent part, that: “The City shall continue pursuing treatment and recovery for those willing to accept assistance while supporting the investigation, arrest where authorized by law, prosecution, and appropriate punishment of individuals whose criminal conduct perpetuates addiction, victimizes residents and businesses, or undermines the safety and vitality of Burlington's public spaces.”

We acknowledge that unhoused residents themselves can be and often are victims of assault, robbery, trafficking, and exploitation in public spaces. Public safety must include their safety too.

It supports more consistent enforcement of existing laws when the facts and the law justify it. That can include investigation, lawful detention, arrest, and referral for prosecution for conduct such as trafficking, theft, violence, and other criminal activity. The resolution and our elected leaders should be candid about that.

But it does not create a mandatory-arrest policy, a new sentence, or a new incarceration program. It repeatedly limits enforcement to action authorized by existing law and pairs it with treatment, recovery, shelter, restorative approaches, and supportive services. It also requests a review of the Situation Table and City Circle programs, which were designed to but have been falling short in their intended goals to coordinate services, restorative justice, and accountability for people with complex needs. See § 3.06.

No. In the resolution, accountability has several forms:

• accountability for unlawful conduct that harms other people;

• accountability for government to report results publicly;

• accountability for emergency programs to help people move toward stable placements;

• accountability for regional and State partners to share responsibility; and

• accountability for the City to change course when a strategy is not producing adequate outcomes.

Some situations may require enforcement. Others call for outreach, restorative justice, treatment, shelter, or case management. Burlington Forward asks the City to use a more coordinated range of responses and to measure whether they are working. See §§ 2.09, 3.04–3.06, and Article V.

No. Housing, treatment, recovery, behavioral health care, outreach, and supportive services are central to the resolution. It calls for an assessment of Burlington’s service capacity; expanded regional treatment, shelter, and housing resources; emergency shelter or sanctioned camping when needed; case management and housing navigation; and State legislation that expands behavioral health care, substance use treatment, recovery services, and permanent supportive housing.

The resolution’s core argument is that long-term investment and immediate safety are both necessary. A person may need permanent housing and treatment, while a dangerous act occurring tonight may still require an immediate response. Addressing root causes and interrupting present harm are complementary responsibilities. See §§ 1.02(C), 3.01–3.04, and 5.03.

No. It does not authorize banishment, forced relocation, or exclusion from the city.

It does seek a faster response to encampments in places where camping is already prohibited. It also directs the City to identify expanded temporary emergency shelter or sanctioned camping when established shelter capacity is insufficient. For an encampment subject to removal, the draft calls for notice, time to make alternative arrangements, service information, coordinated entry materials, and information about the storage of personal property. See §§ 3.04–3.05.

If and when Burlington has reached or exceeded its sustainable service capacity, people seeking help should be connected with available housing, shelter, treatment, recovery, behavioral health, or other supportive services in other communities, including transportation assistance where appropriate. Burlington Forward does not authorize forced transportation or simply putting someone on a bus without a destination or service connection. See § 3.03.

The practical intent is to help someone reach an identified placement or service when an appropriate option is available elsewhere—not to make vulnerable people another municipality’s problem.

No. The draft asks the Mayor to convene service providers and public agencies to assess staffing, funding, shelter, healthcare, case management, sanitation, emergency response, and housing capacity, and to recommend how many people the current system can sustainably and humanely serve at one time. See § 3.02.

That is capacity planning: understanding the gap between need and the resources required to meet it. Burlington does not have endless resources at its disposal. We need to better understand the resources we have, the number of people they can support, and think more creatively about what to do for individuals who need help beyond our current limitations. Burlington Forward does not establish residency rules, authorize exclusion, or create an automatic cutoff for emergency help.

The resolution asks the City to act more promptly when an encampment is located in a place where camping is already prohibited, such as our public parks and along our bike path. It generally calls for notice within 24 hours of discovery, followed by a specified removal date that allows sufficient time for affected people to make alternative arrangements. It also calls for outreach information, coordinated entry instructions, information about available community resources, and clear procedures for stored belongings.

At the same time, the resolution asks the City to identify expanded temporary shelter or sanctioned camping for times when established shelters lack capacity, with water, sanitation, storage, safety, case management, treatment referrals, and housing navigation. See §§ 3.04–3.05.

The proposal therefore does not treat encampment removal as a complete homelessness strategy. The goal is a more orderly and humane system in which public space rules are enforced and people have clearer pathways to safer alternatives.

No. Public spaces are not merely a backdrop, and public safety is not merely an image problem. Parks, sidewalks, the library, downtown, the waterfront, and the bike path are civic resources that should be usable by everyone. Conditions that expose people to violence, trafficking, repeated overdoses, open drug dealing, or unsanitary living conditions are harmful even when they are out of public view.

Burlington Forward also takes a positive approach to public space. It calls for arts and cultural events, recreation, family activities, concessions, amenities, graffiti removal, maintenance, and partnerships that bring people together. See §§ 2.02–2.04 and 2.07.

The objective is not to hide hardship. It is to reduce harm, connect people with meaningful help and recovery, and ensure that shared spaces are safe and welcoming for everyone.

No. The text expressly recognizes the extraordinary commitment of people serving the community and describes sworn officers, Community Service Officers, Urban Park Rangers, and other civilian public safety personnel as dedicated and professional. It also calls for expanded collaboration with nonprofit organizations, service providers, healthcare institutions, businesses, faith communities, and volunteers.

What the Burlington Forward says is that our current policy framework is not producing necessary results. Questioning whether the overall system has enough capacity or is producing adequate results is not a criticism of the people doing difficult work within that system. Strong public policy should be able to value employees and partners while still asking where the system is falling short.

No. On this point there is substantial agreement. The resolution repeatedly says that Burlington cannot solve statewide homelessness, behavioral health, substance use, and public safety challenges by itself.

It asks for:

• sustained partnership with the Governor and State agencies;

• expanded shelter, treatment, recovery, and housing capacity across the region;

• annual meetings among State, City, legislative, and regional leaders;

• State support for coordinated responses to drug trafficking, youth violence, treatment barriers, and limited treatment capacity;

• continued judicial resources for the Chittenden County Accountability Docket; and

• legislation that expands treatment, recovery services, permanent supportive housing, and equitable regional responsibility.

See § 3.03 and Article V. The debate is not whether the State must do more. The question is whether Burlington should take more ownership of its role in our current challenges and what our city should do now while continuing to seek partners in this work.

No. It expressly supports evidence-based public health initiatives, describes syringe service programs as valuable, and reaffirms prevention, treatment, recovery, and other evidence-based interventions.

It does take a position on where and how certain services should operate. It proposes that syringe service programs and any future overdose prevention center be addressed through the City’s public zoning process and that these uses not be located in the Downtown Improvement District. It calls on the Vermont Department of Health and local partners to identify an alternative Burlington location for syringe services. See Article IV.

Reasonable people may disagree with that siting policy. But a disagreement about location, neighborhood impact, or public process is not the same as opposition to treatment or harm reduction. Committee review should include public health experts, service users, recovery advocates, affected neighborhoods, and operating partners.

Labels do not resolve the policy questions in front of Burlington. The resolution combines ideas that cross familiar ideological lines: housing and treatment, sanctioned camping and emergency shelter, restorative justice, public data, regional responsibility, positive activation of public spaces, public health services, police and civilian safety staffing, and enforcement of existing laws.

The most accurate way to evaluate the proposal is provision by provision:

• Does it protect dignity and due process?

• Does it distinguish homelessness from harmful conduct?

• Does it connect people with real services and safer alternatives?

• Does enforcement focus on conduct that harms others?

• Are civil rights and privacy protected?

• Are outcomes measured publicly?

• Are regional and State partners carrying a fair share?

Those are the standards by which the resolution should be refined and judged.

The proposal is expected to be taken up at the Aug 3 City Council meeting and then refined through the Council’s legislative and committee process. Residents should have opportunities to comment on its language, implementation, legal safeguards, service capacity, costs, and performance measures.

Burlington Forward was offered as an invitation to do this work together. The goal should be a stronger final resolution—one that is operationally sound, legally responsible, transparent, and effective in balancing our City’s capacity for compassion with more accountability for ongoing harms.