The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic may have waned in certain sectors, but Vermont children are still feeling the growing impacts on mental health and homelessness.
Homelessness and mental health trends worried those who compiled data for the 2022 “State of Vermont Children” report by Building Bright Futures, which serves as the state’s early childhood advisory board.
Some of the data was for 2022 and others compared recent readings to those before the pandemic as a way to understand the effects of the public health emergency on families and children in Vermont.
Sharp rise in mental health issues in preschool and primary age
Between 2018 and 2021, Vermont saw a 60% increase in children ages 3 to 8 with a mental, emotional, or behavioral health condition. These conditions may have manifested as anxiety, depression, or behavioral and behavioral problems.
Of all youth in this age group, 8.7% required services in 2018, compared to 13.8% as of the end of the 2020-2021 school year. The nation maintained an 8% number between 2016 and 2021, which makes Vermont’s stats even more impressive.
There is ample anecdotal evidence showing that more children need mental health services than before, Dora Levinson, director of research and data at Building Bright Futures, said in a briefing on the report. The severity of their needs is also increasing.
Additional data in the report showed a link between areas where fewer children received routine mental health services and an increase in the number of calls to crisis care. Levinson also said that preventative care can go a long way in helping, however, that federal programs like Medicaid and Mental Health Services Block Grant only pay for services where the diagnosis was established.
“The lack of federal funding for primary prevention and promotion services is hindering Vermont’s ability to shift the curve toward wellness,” Levinson said.
Vermont currently has the lowest number of out-of-home treatment beds it has had in more than two decades, the report said, and thus, many children end up in emergency departments. Of the 1,500 children who received emergency mental health services in 2019, 16% had to wait at least two days before being admitted.
“We are at a critical moment in the public health emergency of early childhood mental health. A moment that will have long-term consequences based on our action or inaction,” Levinson said.
Significant increase in the number of children experiencing homelessness
The report showed that more Vermont kids don’t have a stable place to rest their heads for the night. A point-in-time measure in January 2022 showed a 130% increase in homeless families with children, compared to before the pandemic.
The McKinney-Vento Federal Homelessness Act defines housing insecurity as lacking a consistent and adequate night’s residence, which includes sharing temporary housing with others and staying in a place not designed for regular sleeping quarters.
During the 2019-2020 school year, there were about 250 students under the age of nine in those unsafe parking lots, but by the 2021-2022 school year, the number had increased to about 400.
“Trauma in any period of homelessness, even in the short term, can have a significant impact on future development,” Levinson said, adding that these children have higher rates of emotional and behavioral problems as well as immediate and long-term health problems.
The report concluded that the issues that contributed to the high rates of homelessness among Vermont families were the lack of housing and the disparity between wages earned and the cost of living.
Rental vacancies were 2.4% in 2021, the lowest rate in the country, according to the report. Homeowner vacancy rates in 2021 were 0.6%, leaving many families without adequate housing options available. Healthy rental and homeowner vacancy rates are about 8% and 2%, respectively.
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A family of four with two working adults in Vermont would need to make $107,960 in 2022 to meet the family’s basic needs, according to an MIT living wage calculation. However, the median wages earned by a family of four—at $90,556—means that many don’t meet that threshold.
The Building a Bright Future report said that at least 32% of households spend more than 30% of the monthly budget on housing alone, and for renters this rate was higher than 50% of households.
“Finding any rent, let alone one that is affordable and desirable, can be quite a challenge for families,” Levinson said. She said low homeowner vacancy rates and high interest rates have put homeownership out of reach for many families.
Inflation also contributed to Vermont households having less money on hand at the end of the month. Levinson said that between January 2021 and September 2022, households in Vermont paid, on average, 11% more for goods, shelter, transportation, and energy.
contact reporter April Barton abarton@freepressmedia.com or 802-660-1854. Follow her on Twitter @employee.