BRATTLEBORO-Standing on the sidewalk next to 9 Canal St., a multi-family apartment building above the Brattleboro Food Co-op, Windham & Windsor Housing Trust (WWHT) Executive Director Elizabeth Bridgewater points to a wooden trellis running up the side of the building.
"People are climbing up the trellis and entering the hall window that occupants unlock," she said.
WWHT co-owns and manages the 9 Canal St. property, which includes 12 one- and two-bedroom apartments. The units are permanently affordable, with rents ranging from $582 to $1,069 per month.
On a recent tour of the building with The Commons, Bridgewater explained that her management team has been challenged by multiple and repeated episodes of people who are not occupants entering the building, where they've vandalized doors, slept in the vestibules, and done drugs in the halls and stairwells.
They've left needles and other trash - including feces - and they've behaved aggressively to staff when asked to leave.
In 2024, the Brattleboro Police Department responded to 156 calls related to 9 Canal St., a 333% increase from 2023. Nearly 75% of the calls occurred after September 2024. Bridgewater attributes this spike to changes in the state's emergency motel housing program, which took effect that month.
Cost-cutting measures to the program restricted eligibility for motel rooms, resulting in about 1,000 households being evicted from the motels statewide.
Vermont's Department of Children and Families, which administers the motel program, doesn't track where these households end up. Still, Brattleboro's Community Homelessness Strategy Team estimates that as of December 1, 80 households were unsheltered in the area.
"I think we're seeing a lot of folks seeking shelter wherever they can, and this particular building is easier to access," Bridgewater said of 9 Canal Street.
People are 'deeply sad'
Bridgewater said that as Brattleboro grapples with public disorder problems, WWHT wants to be part of the conversation.
"We need to talk about what's happening in town," she said. "People are feeling overwhelmed and deeply sad. We can't shy away from the conversation or simplify it."
Bridgewater recently addressed a standing-room-only crowd of more than 200 people discussing public safety in town.
Despite doing background checks on all applicants for WWHT housing, Bridgewater said, "you just don't know what's going to happen in a person's life once they move in, or you don't know who their associates are. They may not have a criminal background, but their friends might. And you don't know that in advance. So you may end up in a situation you didn't welcome."
Noting that eviction is "the only tool we have to hold someone accountable," Bridgewater explained that because Vermont allows tenants to remain in their homes during the eviction process - which can take up to a year - tenants can cause a lot of chaos while the process unfolds.
WWHT and other housing providers in Vermont are advocating for "temporary restraining order evictions" to remove these tenants during the eviction process. They point to similar legislation in Massachusetts as a model.
Bridgewater has shared her frustration about Vermont's lengthy eviction process with other landlords, some of whom have testified to the Legislature's Landlord-Tenant Law Study Committee. The committee was established in the 2024 Legislative session to consider modernizing landlord-tenant laws and eviction processes.
Resorting to 'big-city tactics'
Meanwhile, Bridgewater and her staff play Whac-A-Mole to protect the residents at 9 Canal St.
After WWHT staff removed one of the lower trellises on the side of the building, they discovered that some "nimble people" could get purchase on the shallow stone ledge on the face of the building to access the higher trellis next to the window.
Using what she calls "big-city tactics," Bridgewater plans to solve that problem by installing pigeon-repelling spikes along the ledge. She's also considering alarming the door and removing the overhang above it and the bench next to it to discourage people from congregating.
It's discouraging, she says, because these are amenities meant for residents to enjoy the property.
Surveillance cameras on the property help WWHT staff identify offenders. With this information, Bridgewater would pursue no-trespass orders against them - if no-trespass orders could be issued for residential buildings in Vermont.
Bridgewater and her colleagues are advocating to change the law, citing the example of a Virginia statute that allows landlords to bar from the premises anyone - invited guests and uninvited intruders alike - who violate the terms and conditions of the rental agreement.
Many tenants need more than housing
Elizabeth Lachapelle has been the property manager at 9 Canal St. for about a year.
"I love my tenants," she said. "They have a mixture of personalities and their own backgrounds."
Lachapelle came to WWHT after working in corrections and serving eight years in the Army. "Elizabeth has the right mix of toughness and compassion," said Bridgewater. "I hear really positive things about her from the residents."
Compassion is necessary in this line of work. WWHT is a mission-driven organization, said Bridgewater, and as such, it accepts vulnerable people as tenants, often taking risks with them. WWHT is the housing provider of last resort for many people who don't have other choices.
Property managers work on the front lines, facing complex human needs daily. Serving almost as a social worker, Lachapelle connects with approximately 170 households in WWHT apartments in the area.
Recognizing that providing indirect support to tenants leads to housing stability and reduced homelessness, the WWHT staff includes a part-time social worker and wellness nurse. They work with local human services organizations like Groundworks Collaborative and SEVCA to assist residents in accessing resources for back rent, medical and mental health services, and food.
Mark E. Raymond, a resident of 9 Canal St. since 2018, stands outside the building with his dog in the cold.
"It's a really nice place," he says of the apartment building.
But since the pandemic, he's witnessed the problems that Bridgewater and her staff are dealing with. He thinks things have improved somewhat with increased police presence downtown, and he's hopeful about the new Groundworks shelter in the planning stages.
Raymond shakes his head.
"There's no simple solutions," he says.
This News item by Ellen Pratt was written for The Commons.