Addressing Addiction, Substance Use, and Homelessness in Burlington
Hi Everyone,
This is Laura Sánchez-Parkinson, your City Councilor for Ward 3, representing parts of the Old North End and Downtown.
Our community has been working hard and creatively to address addiction, substance use, and homelessness in the City. I have diligently spent time understanding our current infrastructure to support this increasing vulnerable population of residents. What I have learned is that across our city and community there are people doing the hard work:
1. Hotspots: There is a dedicated multi-skill team working to address areas with concentrated activity - camping, drug use, antisocial behavior. Remember the hotspot at the Fletcher Free Library? Learnings from that experience are being integrated into emerging hot spot areas.
2. Thoughtful Displacement: Trained city staff are working with individuals to offer alternative places to relocate. Check out 7Days story below from an incredible city team who is still doing this work!
3. Clean Up: The Public Works department has been responding to public areas to ensure they remain clean and accessible. See an issue? Report it via SeeClickFix.
4. Open Drug Use & Criminal Activity: The Police Department has been deploying public safety personnel to address open drug use and drug sales, theft, harassment, and assault. Check out latest police report.
5. Coordination & Communication: Strategic working groups meet weekly to share information across City Departments and community-based service providers.
AND, there is more work to be done! I want to acknowledge the community organizations, the friends gathering to volunteer, the individuals who take it upon themselves to feed our neighbors. Our current crisis requires a muti-sector and community-wide approach.
Historically our society has displaced and increased enforcement amongst those who are most vulnerable, and those who make the wealthy uncomfortable. As a society we have pushed low-income folks into unlivable housing, we have forced people with disabilities into unseen treatment locations, we have segregated Black and Brown people. As a City, we are experiencing an increased population that might be making some of us uncomfortable. Let’s not repeat history. Let’s dig deeper into our strategic and creative thinking, let’s come up with economic development solutions that benefit all in our community, let’s not settle for easy solutions.
Don’t hesitate to reach out if you have ideas, questions, or concerns. For those of you involved in community efforts, I encourage you to share so that others can join! I will continue to identify ways to strengthen the resilience of our community, both in policy and in our community work.
As Encampments Surge in Burlington, Two Men Address Problems
SeeClickFix
https://seeclickfix.com/burlington_2
July 2026 Police Report
https://burlingtonvt.portal.civicclerk.com/event/10084/files/attachment/17046
Laura Sánchez-Parkinson
Email: lsanchezparkinson@burlingtonvt.gov
IG @lauraforburlington
