Unpermitted dwellings at the center of public debate
By Ethan Weinstein
In Hartford, three unpermitted shelters constructed for the homeless recently reappeared on private property after being removed earlier this year. The structures, built and placed by former Select Board member Simon Dennis, were the center of debate at Hartford’s Sept. 21 Select Board meeting, as was the town’s unhoused community, which currently totals 22 individuals.
One of three huts built by Simon Dennis in Hartford.
Residents present at the meeting expressed frustration with the structures’ failure to meet code and their presence on private land. In January, Hartford removed the pods placed by Dennis, who is a member of the town’s ad hoc committee on emergency shelter.
Members of the public expressed their views on the shelters and Hartford’s homeless population during the public comment section of the meeting.
“I would like to know when the Select Board and the town manager is going to uphold the laws of this town to make the people of this town safe? It’s not that I’m against the homeless people of this town,” said Heidi Duto, a Hartford resident. “I also do not feel safe in my own home. Do you?”
“Usually I do, yeah,” responded Select Board Chair Dan Fraser. “Is it right to punish people for breaking the law when there’s no possibility for them to do otherwise?” Dennis asked at the meeting. “Here in Hartford, we have people, in tents, in winter. That is unacceptable,” Dennis said.
Some residents, such as Sue Ellen Parmenter, expressed fear that the homeless — some of whom she believes to be criminals — are allowed near the homes of private citizens. “It took me two minutes to walk up that track and figure out how many violent felons and sex offenders are bordering my neighbor’s property,” Parmenter said. “You don’t get to pick and choose whether my kids are safe, Simon.”
“First off, I want to say that what Simon Dennis is doing is admirable,” said Wayne Kendall, a resident of White River Junction. He wants to see the homeless helped legally and safely, something he believes Dennis is not doing.
Several past and present unhoused members of the Hartford community spoke at the meeting as well. “Forty-three people that I know very well — knew — are now gone. Not all O.D. related — some weather, some accidents” said Brandi Briggs, who has in the past lived in a tent in Hartford. She added that efforts like Dennis’s are crucial to ensuring the safety of those without homes in Hartford. The number of homeless people who have died in Hartford since the start of the pandemic is not known.
The emergency shelter committee has looked at over 120 properties for a possible legal encampment site with no success. The committee is also looking into changing RV policy to allow for increased stays beyond 14 days and more than one RV on one private property. This would be a reversion to the statewide RV policy. Hartford currently has stricter municipal laws governing RVs.
In an interview with the Mountain Times, Dennis said that his constructing and placing of small shelters is separate from his work on the emergency shelter committee.
Dennis recognizes that his work has only a small impact on helping Hartford’s unhoused community, but he hopes the efforts will spur further, more impactful change. “I don’t want to act like, you know, my efforts with huts are a big piece of the puzzle. They’re not; it’s just a few people, a few huts, but it’s just some way that I can do a little bit to hopefully bring awareness to the issue, and put some pressure on the town,” he said.
The Select Board is scrambling to devise a solution that will help the homeless before winter makes camping in tents even more untenable and unsafe.
“We have to respect the rights of people to have safe shelter, and we have to respect the people who have property rights in the town of Hartford. We have to balance those two. And this board — I don’t know how we’re going to do it,” said Select Board member Lannie Collins.
