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By Guy Page
With the Town of Brattleboro poised to remove its homeless encampments, homeless advocates are crying ‘hobophobia’ and calling in the ACLU, the Brattleboro Reformer reported January 7.
After years of coping with rampant drug use, vandalism, littering, unsanitary conditions, crime and panhandling that downtown business owners say drives away customers, the town selectboard on January 6 resolved – almost – to remove encampments – a policy first proposed three years ago.
Select Board members voted 3-2 Tuesday, January 6 to table discussion on a local policy for removing encampments so they could get input from the ACLU of Vermont and Planning Commission.
Board Vice Chairman Oscar Heller, who voted with the majority on Tuesday, said the encampment removal policy is in place but just hasn’t been officially confirmed. Board member Peter “Fish” Case wanted nothing to do with tabling the decision, the Reformer – the daily newspaper for Windham County and its county seat, Brattleboro – said he worries the board will spend another few hours to “relitigate” the policy due to “some veiled threat from the ACLU.”
“Are they going to come in here and sue us?” he said. “I don’t think so. This town is right up to their eyeballs in compassion and the way that we deal with things.”
Jessica Radbord, senior staff attorney at the ACLU of Vermont, sought the policy delay “so we can provide you with tailored feedback” with data specific to Vermont and Windham County. She also wants to provide information about case law and a bill that will be introduced during the legislative session related to encampments.
It is unclear which legislation Radbord was referring to. However, the bi-partisan H.594, a Temporary Emergency Housing and Accountability Program and the Return Home Program was co-sponsored this week by Rep. Theresa Wood, chair of House Human Services.
If enacted as written, H.594 would take effect next year and shift state assistance away from a reliance on hotels and motels toward a tiered continuum of care that emphasizes shelters, transitional housing, and permanent residency. Eligibility is strictly defined to prioritize the most vulnerable populations, such as those with disabilities or minor children, while requiring participants to engage in active case management.
The bill also introduces a voluntary relocation initiative to assist non-residents in returning to their home states if they lack local support. To ensure transparency, the act mandates rigorous reporting on program expenditures, participant outcomes, and fraud prevention measures. Overall, the proposal seeks to balance immediate humanitarian needs with long-term fiscal responsibility and housing stability.
Back in Brattleboro, closing encampments doesn’t set well with staff at 69A, a downtown art center where homeless community members receive resources. Removing encampments means more people on the street, coordinator Lisa Marie said. Instead, they want to see trash receptacles, lockers and public bathrooms in town.
“I understand a lot of people are afraid of people who don’t have a place to sleep,” said Lisa Marie. “Hobophobia is very severe in this town and it’s very sad.”
Getting personal belongings back after an encampment is removed can be nearly impossible, she said. “Personal property means a lot to people who have nothing,” she said, and replacing items can be burdensome to those who are helping those in need.
Town officials said people displaced from encampments are given contact information to retrieve their belongings from the Department of Public Works, with Selectboard Chair John Keir noting the town is not required to store the items but aims not to “make life more difficult for people going through homelessness.” Town highway officials say salvaged belongings are kept in a safe, dry shed and tagged with the location, date and time they were collected, and are held for at least 14 days before disposal; items contaminated with blood, human waste or drug paraphernalia are discarded, and most tents are not saved because they are typically found in unusable condition.
‘Hobophobia’ is a term first known to be used for at least two decades, according to the Urban Dictionary. It is defined as “an unreasonable fear of the homeless.” Wikipedia distinguishes between hobos, tramps, and bums: Hoboes, tramps, and bums are generally regarded as related, but distinct: a hobo travels and is willing to work; a tramp travels, but avoids work if possible; a bum neither travels nor works.”
The move to table was made by selectboard member Isaac Evans-Frantz, a former Vermont Public news reporter and WDEV Vermont Viewpoint host. He was prompted after an article in the Commons weekly newspaper about the encampment removal process raised concerns for him.
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Categories: Housing, Local government
Easy, easy solution, all those who are hobophillic can invite them into their homes.
Cost the taxpayers zero dollars and instead of waiting for the broken system to right things they can take immediate action. Legislators and town officials could lead by example, show us how it’s done.
Pick all of them up and give them a bus ticket to the Vermont statehouse and have them put up their tents on the front lawn. They can mingle with the elite class of welfare bums in the statehouse. Comment from Richard Day with no apology.
Bernie did that when he became mayor of Burlington on city hall lawn
Ever driven thru Brattleboro, it’s one loony town. Different store types, crazy looking people. One intersection of 5 intersecting roads with traffic lights controlling, The stores selling different stuff to different people types. I suspect the city managers are of that crowd. One guy struts around about twice a week carrying strings of protest signs on each hand and in the mouth, done so for a few years now. People protesting all the time about something many times. The post office is a protest gathering place.. The free newspaper The Commons is about as liberal as you can get, totally subsidized. Had a run in with them a few times, they don’t like conservatives. Home Depot tried to exist, but folded quickly. They had two radio stations, use to tune in and listen. Many very radial commentators spewing. It was fun just to listen to them. I believe the stations were 1450 & 1490 AM. One commentator was Stephanie Miller (from CA) and had a liberal discussion panel ranting about conservatives. That folded and now mostly music.
Brattleboro is the gateway to shopping in Hinsdale NH, hence the traffic flow. Then there’s the Strutting Of The Heffers parade. One time bikers rode thru town naked, but the town fathers passed an ordinance and stopped that. Not into drugs I suspect there’s free needles, wouldn’t want to walk barefoot. I believe all the strangeness comes from the south, MA is only 12 miles away. Free stuff. Flat street, what a great street, gets flooded with water and crazies.
Yup a crazy town, they can sue me for saying so. Avoid at all costs. Thankfully when I was born in Brattleboro, only sanity existed and nice people, great town. As goes Brattleboro, so goes Vermont.
Has been this way since the 1960’s, someone made the comment to me, ‘The trust fund baby hippies drove up I91 from NYC and stopped when they crossed the VT/Mass State Line
Sorry to come off as unkind or non-empathetic, but when did it actually become the responsibility of society at large to provide housing/shelter to those whose economic priorities preclude paying for it? Especially with Vermont’s few-questions-asked, hyper-generous, honor-system welfare cornucopia, everyone has some financial resources. Every business in Vermont has a help wanted sign posted. If you behave in a civilized manner, get along with others and avoid spending all your money on unnecessary “entertainment” you can partner up with other humans of limited means and live a legitimate existence without willfully violating vagrancy and public camping laws. The tent cities are a form of societal extortion in Vermont, where some people make a public nuisance of themselves until the municipality steps in and gives them a free motel room, apartment etc. Why would anyone throw away money on something silly like “rent” when the service it procures will just eventually be provided gratis because of the actions of the ACLU or other advocates? If something valuable is provided for “free”, dont be surprised when folks come flocking around. There, I said it, with just a thinly-veiled reference to the “birdfeeder analogy”.
Another contributing factor is the Brattleboro Retreat, which brings in people with addictions and mental health disorders. Insurance reimbursements are inadequate , and the unfortunate consequence is that people receive inadequate, insufficient treatment and are then left to fend for themselves. As I understand, many of those discharged patients were given a kind of voucher for camping equipment from the downtown outdoor supply store (a commercial anchor location now no longer in business in Brattleboro).
So now you have a relatively large local population of people with addiction and mental health issues and a network of non-profits, with ties to state government officials, House and Senate, to “provide services and support” for those people. Leah Rosin-Pritchard was a casualty of this diabolical tangle, as are many downtown businesses.
One local (former) business owner I speak with won’t go to the Brattleboro Coop anymore, because the area (at the notorious 5-way “Dysfunction Junction”) is “too sketchy”. She goes to Keene. A popular downtown salon relocated to Keene. The situation is untenable, sadly.
Remember when hobos hung out down on the railroad tracks, drank wine, cooked cans of beans over an open fire,and didn’t bother anybody . Ahh the good ole days !
They just wanted to be left alone. Now homelessness seems to be a form of self-imposed victimhood signaling.
“Hobophobia?” No, “ Bumophobia” would be the more accurate term, as these people have no interest in work, riding the rails, or even survival skills. In essence, the definition provided by dictionary.com is as current today as it was during the depression era. They are vagrants, who avoid work or are homeless because they want to be, and although it carries a negative connotation for a person, implying laziness or worthlessness, it is in fact an accurate description of the homeless population here in Brattleboro.
The majority of this population does not come from this area, and were certainly were not born and/or raised here. However, they love Brattleboro for its excessive liberal permissiveness, and lack of enforcement of vagrancy laws. So, encampments pop up in front of the food co-op, stores on Main Street, and even in our public parks. Our police officers know that little will be done in the courts once they are arrested or detained, therefore they refrain for the most part jn subjecting them to a ticket. This is gone on for far too long!
As some of the commentators above have mentioned, these people have no motivation to work and are a disgrace to our society. We’ve tried to get them housing in some of our motels, but all that is accomplished is destruction of property at the sites that we have provided, and owners being asked to repair those sites at their own expense.
It is time to eliminate this threat to the economic and social base of our town and pass stringent laws against these vagrants. We should not support them in their search for drugs, handouts, and flouting public safety laws. It is time to return Brattleboro back to its residents, and remove this very public nuisance of homelessness from our streets. Perhaps, deporting them to Montpelier would be the first step in bringing back sanity to our town and to our State.