Thank you to the Independent for running the VTDigger.org article “COVID-era housing program to end” in the May 4 edition. 

Two years ago my spouse and I, ages 74 and 75, resided at the Sonesta ES Suites in Burlington. We stayed there for four weeks. We paid. We awaited a new condo to be ready that we had purchased. 

We soon noticed that there were others housed there because of being homeless. They had children and sometimes I met them outside walking with their children or doing their laundry. Once my spouse drove a father and his child (in a car seat) to do some errands. 

I am dismayed to see that funding for such places will soon end. In my 40-year career in Massachusetts with children and their families, I never knew any family that wanted to remain without a permanent home of their own. I worked in shelters in Framingham, Mass., with parents and their young children. There were wait lists for mental health services and affordable housing. These parents worked. 

I hope the Vermont legislators support continued funding. 

Anne C. Sullivan 

Hinesburg