VAAP Publishes in Seven Days
“'Deeper Reporting' on Labor
Alongside my Vermont Asylum Assistance Project colleagues, legal fellow Emma Matters-Wood and volunteer Sara Stowell, I appreciate Seven Days for highlighting challenges facing immigrant workers in Vermont ["Risky Business: Housing Violations Involving a Fast-Growing Vermont Roofing Company Expose Role of Immigrants in the Trades," December 18]. However, we urge deeper reporting on systemic issues. For example, while the article noted unsafe living conditions, it failed to answer critical questions: Where did these displaced workers go? Are they now unhoused or unemployed? Such omissions risk harming the very individuals whose stories deserve uplift.
Following related coverage by WCAX-TV, one VAAP client — an asylum-seeking survivor of past persecution — was summarily evicted into houselessness from similarly crowded employer-provided housing. Injured during the rushed eviction, our client lost critical legal documents essential to their asylum case. Without asylum status, they cannot access housing assistance or robust workplace protections. Our client's precarious couch-surfing outcome underscores the dangers of incomplete reporting on immigrant worker housing.
Vermont's twin crises — housing and workforce shortages — demand thoughtful exploration. Immigrant workers have long filled essential labor gaps yet face barriers such as insufficient wages to cover Vermont's high housing and health care costs. Incomplete reporting exacerbates immigration disinformation and distracts from the ways welcoming immigrants bolsters Vermont's economy and supports critical investments. Further, employer-provided housing may be a stopgap and not necessarily reflect malice.
Framing employers as villains without examining systemic factors hinders meaningful solutions. We urge Seven Days to explore solutions — affordable housing, livable wages, worker protections and immigration services — and amplify voices of immigrant and local workers alike for more equitable and informed coverage.
Jill Martin Diaz, Burlington. Jill Martin Diaz is the executive director of the Vermont Asylum Assistance Project.”
https://www.sevendaysvt.com/news/letters-to-the-editor-1-15-25-42666879
