On April 28, the City Council of Burlington, Vermont, voted unanimously to approve opening an overdose prevention center (OPC) in the city.
The state authorized such facilities in 2024, and this is slated to be the first to open—though a number of steps remain before that will happen, including determining the exact location, so the timeline is unclear. At the Downtown Health Project, as it will be known, people will be able to use drugs that they bring with them, with harm reduction workers on hand to keep them safe and provide various forms of support.
“This won’t work if it’s not somewhere downtown,” said Council Member Evan Litwin (D), as local news reported. “It’s not gonna work if it’s in an area that isn’t accessible and near the folks who need the service.”
“We cannot arrest away substance use disorder,” added Council Member Melo Grant (Progressive Party). “We have to have the part that is harm reduction.”
On March 11, the city had chosen Vermonters for Criminal Justice Reform (VCJR) to operate the prospective site. The organization is a harm reduction, treatment and recovery services provider. The state health department will provide $1.1 million in opioid settlement money to support the OPC in its first year, with the intention to continue funding it through fiscal year 2028.
“We’ve been preparing for several years in the hopes this legislation would go through and we would be selected.”
Tom Dalton, VCJR’s executive director, spoke with Filter about the plans.
“Is the $1.1 million enough to cover [the costs]?” he asked. “It’s a complicated question because there are many unknowns, such as the cost of the site. But we’re an existing organization with a budget. We’ve been preparing for several years in the hopes this legislation would go through and we would be selected, and have put the ancillary services in place through other funding. We feel we will be able to cover the expenses with what we have.”
These preparations, he added, have included talks with the operators of the few other authorized OPC in the United States—OnPoint in New York City, and Project Weber/Renew in Providence, Rhode Island.
“From our perspective, we’re hoping to implement this in the context of a broader array of services, building on what we already offer,” Dalton said. “We see overdose prevention centers as an important tool, but only part of a bigger range of support people benefit from—harm reduction, medical, drug treatment and other services onsite.”
Besides supervising drug use and responding to any overdoses, the site will need to provide drug checking, first aid, safe sex supplies and STD testing, and direct referrals to treatment and mental health services.
According to guidelines issued by the state health department, Vermont will also allow mobile OPC. Importantly, the guidelines require an indoor smoking area at brick-and-mortar locations, to protect people who smoke drugs as well as those who inject—though the requirement of a separate ventilation system from the rest of the building could present challenges.
“What we’re doing isn’t working. Fentanyl and xylazine are here, and they’re not going anywhere. We have to get creative and do what we can.”
Vermont is facing multiple public health crises, underscoring the need for new approaches. CDC data show that overdose deaths soared from a total of 78 in 2015 to 257 in 2023. Meanwhile, the state ranks fourth in the nation for its homelessness rate, with 53 out of every 10,000 residents unhoused.
“What we’re doing isn’t working,” Council Member Litwin told Filter. “Fentanyl and xylazine are here, and they’re not going anywhere. We have to get creative and do what we can … It’s a large population of people who are unhoused and struggling with substance use disorder. If we can move some of this activity out of hidden places where people can overdose and die—where they shouldn’t be using, that’s impacting public life and spaces—then everyone benefits.”
Burlington is facing budget problems, amid an $8 million deficit in its municipal spending. The mayor and Council are considering cuts. As the unhoused population has grown faster than the availability of shelter beds, the city has debated how to respond—in 2024, it agreed to distribute necessities like water, dumpsters and portable toilets to several encampments. The issue of homelessness has been a major sticking point between the state legislature and Governor Phil Scott (R)—who has repeatedly vetoed a budget bill that would extend an existing hotel-motel voucher program, which Scott has described as a “failed system.”
“This is a huge strain on our public safety resources,” Litwin said. “The constant rolling of ambulances, fire trucks, police and Narcan has a cost, in the millions. We’re in a fiscal hole as a municipality, and we’re not getting the financial support we need from our governor and legislature.”
“One of the commitments is to site the facility in the area where most overdoses happen, because we need people to access it and most people will do so on foot.”
Like Litwin, Dalton sees a downtown location for the Burlington OPC as essential.
“We know the city has been collecting data about where overdoses are occurring, and it has a ‘heat map’ showing that,” he said. “One of the commitments is to site the facility in the area where most overdoses happen, because we need people to access it and most people will do so on foot.”
But several steps remain before the OPC can open. VCJR and the city will have to work to find a suitable building, and hire and train staff. They’ll also have to get feedback from residents and businesses near the proposed location.
“[VCJR] will have to come back to us with a contract to get approved, and when they need a zoning amendment once a site is located,” Litwin said. “My guess is that will be a big conversation. I wouldn’t be surprised if we run into some concerns about, ‘Do I really want this in my neighborhood?’ [Personally], I certainly don’t think it should be near a school.”
Finding a proposed location is likely to be tough. “A million dollars doesn’t build you a new building,” Litwin said. “We don’t have a ton of building stock around the city that can be retrofitted, so that will limit how many sites we really have to choose from.”
Reaching this point has taken a long political fight. In 2024, the bill to authorize OPC in Vermont advanced passed both the state House and Senate after amendments. Then Gov. Scott vetoed it when it reached his desk. But in a dramatic turn of events on June 17, the legislature very narrowly mustered the votes to overturn Scott’s veto.
Photograph of Burlington by Bill Badzo via Flickr/Creative Commons 2.0
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