BELLOWS FALLS — Rockingham's homeless must seek shelter in surrounding communities or endure winter temperatures as best they can, following a tie vote by a deadlocked Zoning Board on Nov. 22.
A majority was needed for approval of the permit for the Bellows Falls Overnight Warming Shelter.
The 3-3 vote means the shelter, which was to have opened beneath Athens Pizza at 83 Westminster St. on Nov. 1, remains in limbo.
The Overnight Warming Shelter board is scrambling to find suitable space for the shelter before the inevitable cold of winter hits.
“We'll take anything right now. We've been awfully lucky in our November weather this year. Usually it doesn't stay warm this late,” BFOWS Chair Louise Luring said.
But as temperatures drop, some Village residents came forward to oppose the reopening of the shelter in their backyard.
During public hearings held by the Zoning Board and other boards, a group of neighbors from Riverview Apartments at 73 Westminster St. voiced opposition to the shelter as an “interested party” in the proceedings.
The group, led by Riverview resident James Mitchell and former Village president Cathy Bergmann, complained of noise and said that those who used the shelter last year threatened their safety.
Other “interested party” neighbors complained of having “undesirable” people hanging out near downtown businesses and, while the Zoning Board did not agree with that point, its members cited concerns about increased vehicular traffic as a result of homeless people using the shelter.
“Most homeless people I've met don't have vehicles,” Lisa Pitcher, director of the Our Place Drop In Center, said. “I don't get it.”
After wading through interested parties' testimony over several months, the zoning administration still could not fall solidly behind the shelter permit.
“If these people had complaints last year, why are we just hearing about it now?” Luring asked. “Why couldn't they come to the board right away so we could address the problems?”
“No one came to us with issues,” Luring said.
In a letter to The Commons, Bergmann refuted the characterization that she and others who oppose the shelter are heartless.
“It's that we don't feel this shelter does enough for these people, that it enables their lifestyle rather than help them off the streets and to a healthy, clean, productive existence,” Bergmann wrote.
Citing Vermont state statutes in her letter, Bergmann added that the town service officer is responsible for aiding people who need shelter.
Noting that DeBernardo, a member of the Selectboard and the town service officer, also serves as a member of the Warming Shelter board, Bergmann wrote, “Is the town service officer using the GFOWS as the reason not to do the duties as service officer of Rockingham/Bellows Falls/Saxtons River/Cambridgeport/Bartonsville? Now I'm truly confused.”
Editor's note: Bergmann's letter arrived after the Voices section for this issue went to press. It will appear in next week's Commons.
Luring said she felt “blindsided” by both the complaints and the lack of community support for “the least among us,” saying it was frustrating when what is important is the safety of the lives of human beings.
Responding to a need
The warming shelter in Bellows Falls was started following a call from Brattleboro's Melinda Bussino, executive director of the Brattleboro Area Drop In Center, to Selectboard member and Town Safety Officer Anne DiBernardo in November 2009.
“We were told (that their shelter was) at capacity, and we would have to take care of our own [homeless] that year,” DiBernardo said.
The overnight warming shelter opened off of Canal Street near the Village Square that winter, and last year obtained a one-year permit for the winter's coldest months, from November through April, beneath Athens Pizza.
Pitcher said she is getting calls already from area churches asking about local alternatives.
“One family called and asked if the shelter would be open this winter. They were calling because they were in imminent danger of being evicted from where they were living,” Pitcher said.
“There are quite a few individuals, couples, and families out there who we term as being in 'precarious housing situations,' meaning at any moment they could find themselves without shelter overnight,” she added.
“There are so many circumstances that make this a very real possibility, especially this year with fuel assistance cuts,” Pitcher said, noting that many people have found housing with friends or relatives “but something could easily happen to change that.”
“People stop getting along, someone gets ill, or the landlord steps in because the apartment is only supposed to hold two or three people,” she said. “They could be out in the street at any time.”
“People just don't understand homelessness,” Luring said. “It's beyond their understanding. They would rather not deal with it at all than admit that there's a dark underside to their community.”
Luring noted the “vociferous” polarizing efforts of opposition groups in the Village has had the opposite effect, and brought increased focus and attention on a municipality that has struggled with image and identity on and off for decades, since the paper mills shut down in the 1970s.
“Our town has received a black eye over this event, with many people asking, “How can this be?” Luring said in a prepared statement to the joint board meeting last week.
“Many people in this community who have been silent until now have come forward in support of the shelter, and we are heartened by the view they share with us that we have a duty, be it Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Hindu, or other believer, to help those less fortunate than we even if it makes us uncomfortable.”
Another chance
Sean O., a lifelong Bellows Falls resident, said that he lives in a tent and “it would have been nice” to have the shelter available “in case.”
Sean readily admits his alcohol problem is “probably the reason I lost my job” where he working for a good wage and benefits in Rockingham until last year.
On this day, he was sober. “I haven't had a drink in two weeks,” he said.
While drugs and alcohol were not allowed in the shelter, a sober Sean would be welcome. Drunk, he takes his chances.
The lobby at the Bellows Falls Police Department will be kept open and warm, according to Det. Shane Harris.
Pitcher said the BFOWS “is starting to look beyond this shelter. We need to find something. Where are these people going to go?”
According to Luring, efforts are still going forward to keep any homeless people from freezing to death.
“We're working with other shelters to see what they can do to help us,” she said.
Luring added that even temporary shelters would be welcome “that could take two or three people [overnight].”
She said she also intends to start asking around about empty houses and apartments, as well as looking into vacation homes.
“We need to get something up, or I'm afraid to think what might happen this winter,” Luring said.
Noting the requirements necessary for operating a shelter - like a sprinkler system, to name one criterion - Luring said that finding other alternatives would be a challenge. “Not every building has a sprinkler system [for instance].”
“It's not as simple as just finding a place and opening the doors,” she said.