Who We Are: Our History

COTS Mission Statement & Core Values

COTS provides emergency shelter, services, and housing for people who are without homes or who are marginally housed. COTS advocates for long-term solutions to end homelessness.

… that emergency shelter is not the solution to homelessness.

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The story of COTS begins in 1982 when a group of concerned community members and organizations joined together to create ways to address the needs of the growing homeless population in Burlington.

(Click here to learn about our 25th-year commemorative report, "The Story of COTS:

25 Years of Courage, Compassion & Community." )

By October, this group of volunteers, now called the Committee on Temporary Shelter, was preparing for the upcoming winter. On Christmas Eve, 1982, the COTS Waystation Project opened its doors for the winter to offer overnight shelter for people without homes.

In 1983, COTS incorporated as a non-profit organization and expanded to a year-round operation.

Within the year, COTS made its first step toward providing a full range of services for homeless and marginally housed people. The COTS Streetwork program began offering counseling and referrals -- long-term solutions to homelessness. COTS also expanded to provide affordable housing opportunities for individuals at the Wilson Hotel, adjacent to the Waystation on Church Street.

In 1988, COTS began a new program to combat the ever increasing problem of entire families without homes. With the help of the Burlington Community Land Trust, COTS turned an abandoned firehouse on North Champlain Street into the Firehouse Family Shelter. This shelter, now part of COTS Family Services, can serve up to five families at one time, providing them with resources to help them find permanent housing. We are pleased to report that school attendance for children staying at the Firehouse shelter has remained at 100 percent for the past three years. This is a remarkable accomplishment, given the national figure of 43 percent for homeless students.

Also in 1988, with the help of the Community Health Center, COTS opened the Daystation, a drop-in shelter for the homeless during the day. It includes a clinic, the Homeless HealthCARE Project, which employes a physician and nurses to offer health services and substance abuse counseling from Champlain Drug and Alcohol Services.

The Daystation, in conjunction with the COTS Streetwork Program, provides counseling and support services to help clients find jobs.

In 1991, COTS opened St. John's Hall, an 18-unit Single Room Occupany (SRO) residence providing affordable, decent housing for the homeless and working poor. In 1992, St. John's Hall received national recognition when it won the Maxwell Award for Excellence from the Fannie Mae Foundation in Washington, DC.

In 1994, COTS opened the Families in Transition program, which provides shelter and on-site social services to nine single-parent households for up to two years. This program, operating as part of COTS Family Services, is an excellent example of how COTS strives to provide lasting solutions to homelessness. Education, job training and support services are essential for the family to regain their independence.

In 1999 COTS and the Burlington Housing Authority (BHA) teamed up to address one of the root causes of homelessness in our community: the lack of affordable housing. In April of that year COTS and BHA launched the Rental Opportunity Center. This program connects appropriate candidates with landlords who accept Section 8 vouchers (a federal housing subsidy). Over 100 landlords participate in the program. They are able to list their apartments for free with the Housing Search Specialist, who then works with the landlord to find a qualified tenant. COTS and BHA are committed to serving landlords and tenants alike. Since opening, the program has helped nearly 600 families and individuals find a safe, decent, and affordable home. Recently, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development awarded the project a "Best Practice" for its success.

In 2002 COTS saved a neglected rooming house from being torn down and preserved 10 units of safe and decent housing for homeless individuals and families. When an old duplex on North Winooski Avenue was bequeathed to a local church the trustees of that church turned to COTS and asked if we were interested. We did a quick inspection and title search and decided to accept the donation, knowing full well the extend of work that needed to be done. We quickly began raising funds for the project, and thanks to two large grants from the Vermont Housing and Conservation Board and the Federal Home Loan Bank of Boston we began work in the summer of 2001. One year later we opened the Smith House, named after Calvin Coolidge Smith, the patron who originally donated the building to the Church. Now, two families and seven single adults live in this modernized, renovated building in downtown Burlington.

COTS launched its most recent program, 278 Main Street, to address the growing problem of family homelessness in Chittenden County. Since 1988, COTS has been providing safe and decent shelter for up five families a night at our Firehouse Family Shelter on North Champlain Street in Burlington. Even though we kept a waiting list at the shelter from the day we opened out doors, we were able to meet the needs at the time and ensure that those with the most pressing needs (i.e., single mothers with young children who were living in their cars) had safe shelter.

In 1999, however, the waiting list for the Firehouse began to grow at an alarming rate. We responded to the crisis by aggressively pursuing every available housing option, from apartments to motels to vacant student dorms. Throughout this period we have searched for a new site that could provide transitional housing to homeless families with children. Our experience has taught us that families need up to six months to stabilize their lives and be successful in making the transition from homelessness to independent living. We hoped to find an existing building in good condition that would offer private living space for individual families. Just as it is enormously difficult for families to find housing in Chittenden County, it was nearly impossible for COTS to find a facility that could meet the needs.

On March 11, 2002, with the help of key supporters and the State of Vermont, COTS purchased the 200-year-old brick building at 278 Main Street from the YWCA to provide transitional housing to homeless families with children. We spend the summer of 2002 renovating the building and adding needed safety improvement systems such as sprinklers throughout the building and a state-of-the-art fire alarm system. We completed renovations to the building in the fall and welcomed our first family on November 9, 2002. This new COTS shelter can accommodate up to 10 families with children at a time. COTS staff offer on-site career counseling, housing referrals and ongoing support to help families get back on their feet.