People who are unhoused line up to be admitted to a temporary shelter set up in Burlington in March 2024. File photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerThis story, by Report for America corps member Carly Berlin, was produced through a partnership between VTDigger and Vermont Public.State officials are working to assemble three emergency family shelters following the evictions of over 1,000 people from Vermont’s motel voucher program this fall.Two sites – the former State Police barracks in Willison, and the Waterbury Armory – will be ready to serve as family shelters by Nov. 1, Joshua Marshall, communications and operations manager for the Department for Children and Families, confirmed in an email Wednesday morning.A third location in Montpelier is also in the works, though “some renovations are required,” Marshall said. “We are working to bring this up as a family shelter over the next few months,” he added.The move comes as Gov. Phil Scott’s administration has faced mounting pressure from municipal leaders, lawmakers, and service providers over the last month to intervene on the current mass wave of evictions from Vermont’s emergency housing program. The step toward creating the new shelters for families is the first public action administration officials have taken in response.The Vermont National Guard armory in Waterbury sits on 2.5 acres between Interstate 89 and Stowe Street. File photo by Gordon Miller/Waterbury RoundaboutAs of Oct. 15, 724 households – amounting to 1,175 people – have exhausted their motel vouchers, hitting a new 80-day-limit on motel stays, Marshall wrote in an email Tuesday.Nearly 300 children have left the program since the new limits kicked in last month, Marshall said. DCF anticipates around 100 additional households will exhaust their nights by the end of October. Facing a severe housing shortage and a lack of family shelters, some families evicted from the motel program have had no option but to pitch tents outdoors – a situation that has become increasingly dire as temperatures drop. The new shelters, first reported on by NBC5, appear to be specifically set aside for families with children, though many other vulnerable Vermonters have been evicted from the program since mid-September, including people fleeing domestic violence, elderly people, and people with severe disabilities. Libby Bennett of the Groundworks Collaborative in Brattleboro speaks during a press conference on the homelessness crisis at the State House in Montpelier on Tuesday, October 15, 2024. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerMany details about the three new shelters remain uncertain as of Wednesday morning – including, critically, who will run them.“These facilities will need to have a provider enlisted to support,” Marshall said. “We look forward to our continued partnership with local providers to help enable prompt facility readiness to keep children and families safe.”At a Statehouse press conference Tuesday – before news of the new state shelters had arrived – service providers from across Vermont cautioned officials against setting up large, congregate shelters like the ones the state stood up last spring. “This warehouse solution is an even less effective band-aid solution than continuing to provide motel emergency housing,” said Libby Bennett, executive director of the Groundworks Collaborative in Brattleboro.This story will be updated.Read the story on VTDigger here: State to set up 3 family shelters as many lose motel housing.