A press conference called by Community Resilience Organizations and Northeast Kingdom Organizing to present The People’s Demands for a Just Recovery from Flooding draws a group of onlookers August 1.
MONTPELIER — Vermonters impacted by flooding and involved in flood relief gathered on the Statehouse steps Thursday, Aug. 1, to demand bold state action after repeated wet weather have caused flooding events that have devastated communities. Speakers presented The People’s Demands for a Just Recovery from Flooding, developed by grassroots organizers on the front lines of flooding.
“As informed by our identities, lived experiences, and expertise, we demand that the State of Vermont deliver on key pillars of a just recovery, including housing, administration and climate resilience. The floods have shown the underlying inequity and we demand that more is done to support a just transition and rebuild for the Northeast Kingdom and beyond,” wrote Northeast Kingdom Organizing (NEKO).
“These demands emerged after our fourth major flooding event in a year. If our state was taking care of people in the day-to-day, these acute moments of disaster would not hit so hard. But that’s not what’s happening. Instead, people are left to fend for themselves,” explained Meghan Wayland, lead organizer at NEKO. “We need to recover in a way that addresses underlying inequities that make these disasters so devastating.”
To meet existing housing needs, Vermont must add over 5,000 units of housing yearly. That number doesn’t account for the loss of housing stock after flooding, which has left people across the state with nowhere to go, regardless of their ability to pay, said Lena Greenberg, co-director at Community Resilience Organizations (CRO).
For individuals living in damaged and destroyed homes, figuring out next steps is elusive and convoluted. “We desperately need coordinated emergency plans and services—after you’ve lost everything, it is impossible to sort through all these forms and know what you’re supposed to do next,” explained Jenni Belotserkovsky, a Plainfield resident who lost her home of 16 years in the July 11 flooding. “If we didn’t have so many wonderful neighbors helping us, I have no idea what we would do.”
A press conference called by Community Resilience Organizations and Northeast Kingdom Organizing to present The People’s Demands for a Just Recovery from Flooding draws a group of onlookers August 1.
Greenberg writes, Grassroots organizations and community mutual aid groups are the first to mobilize when disaster strikes and often the last to provide support when FEMA and out of state volunteer groups have left the scene. Relying on individuals to go above and beyond, over and over again, has its limitations.
“There’s only one way to get ahead of our housing shortage and vulnerability to flooding, and that’s by trying something totally new,” said Michelle Eddleman McCormick, director of Cooperation Vermont and general manager of the worker-owned cooperative at the Marshfield Village Store, which served as a recovery hub in July 2023.
As Vermont continues to feel the pressure of recurring climate disaster, a long-brewing housing shortage, an aging population and small tax base, patience for existing systems of problem solving continues to wane, says Greenberg.
“The river doesn’t care about busy schedules or bureaucratic slowdowns. It’s time for our elected officials and government agencies to act with the urgency you feel when your basement has six feet of water in it or when you don’t have a place to sleep,” said Greenberg. “Now is a time for boldness and creativity, and for active adaptation to our changing climate and the disasters we’ll continue to experience. Vermonters deserve action that will make our state safe, vibrant, and resilient.
The People’s Demands are supported by 36 Vermont organizations including the ACLU of Vermont, the Center for an Agricultural Economy, Cooperation Vermont, Kingdom United Resilience & Recovery Effort, Lamoille Area Recovery Network, NEKO, NOFA-Vermont and the United Way of Lamoille County
“In a time of ever-unfolding disaster, we recognize the need to balance short term needs and long term transformation. . . Investing in this work will not only make it possible to rebuild from now-recurring flooding, but will set our communities up for a safe, thriving future as the climate crisis continues to unfold,” read the demands that list concrete actions intended to create more resilient communities.
Housing issues lead the list of demands that include creating local emergency housing plans to guarantee people will not be displaced in disasters and building affordable, climate resilient housing for current and future Vermonters.
Taxing high earners and second-homeowners appears as a source of funding for the demands. That funding, it suggests, would invest in workforce development to shorten wait lists for housing repair programs, add state supported capacity and funding to create permanent positions that will meet the needs of rural populations for access to disaster response services, support volunteer emergency responders and connect towns with federal funding and assistance.
Demands to create more resilient communities include developing watershed-wide river management and ecosystem restoration plans that account for and minimize flood impacts, adjusting statewide development standards and incentives to prevent new building in floodplains, incentivizing climate-resilient construction and buying out homeowners who are willing to move.
Lastly, the demands call for ensuring all new investment in roads, wastewater treatment, water systems and food infrastructure is reliable under climate stressors and ensures people can meet basic needs during crisis.
NEKO has been offering Northeast Kingdom residents flood recovery assistance by organizing volunteers who have gone door-to-door in flood ravaged areas to muck & gut houses.
NEKO is a coalition of individuals, families, faith- and community-based organizations that come together to organize and advocate for economic, social and environmental justice for the people and the places of Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom. NEKO helps build relationships between people and centers the voices of NEK residents often ignored in decisions about their communities.
NEKO campaigns have evolved as its membership has evolved. As a member-led organization, the voices, vision and experiences of members shape what is built and what action is taken.
NEKO organizer Allyson Howell said, “I organize because I think my neighbors here in the NEK are experts in their own experiences and are a vast, untapped power.”
Paul Fixx is editor of The Hardwick Gazette and lives in Hardwick.
