Tent City, as the encampment was known, sat tucked in a patch of woods behind the downtown train station and Food City grocery store.

By Charlotte Oliver

City employees in St. Albans broke up a homeless encampment throughout May, displacing several people in hopes of cutting down on crimes that officials tied directly to the camp. 

Tent City, as the encampment was known, sat tucked in a patch of woods behind the downtown train station and Food City grocery store for decades. But this spring neighbors and business owners complained to the city more than ever about theft and disturbances they linked to the camp, according to City Manager Dominic Cloud.  

“Their message was: We’ve had enough,” said Cloud. 

Employees at Food City saw “obvious drug deals” in the parking lot, faced threats from people assumed to be on drugs, encountered shoplifters frequently and watched people use drugs outside the store, said store manager Aaron Shepard. 

“There’s been plenty of times where we’ve walked little old ladies out to their cars,” said Shepard. 

Both Cloud and Shepard said local crime was concentrated in Tent City.

Public works employees broke up the encampment slowly throughout May; police made no arrests, Cloud said. “This was really more like what happens at, you know, 2 o’clock at a bar when it’s time to shut down a party,” said Cloud, who helped break up the camp. City employees spent two or three days a week over the month “landscaping” the area and talking to people, trying to get them to leave, he said. 

From Food City, workers saw excavators and other heavy machinery go in and out of the site. Store employees heard the equipment was to clear the space, including taking down a fence and cutting down trees, said Shepard. 

“The prices of apartments and everything is outrageous now — you know it’s hard for individuals to afford a market-rate apartment,” said Davis.

She said she’s seen an increase in the number of people seeking housing, and a significant increase in the length of stay, since the end of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Originally Tent City was home to a group of people, said Cloud, but over the years few actually lived there — while many chose the secluded spot to use or sell drugs. He estimates less than five people lived there and over 30 would “transact their business” there. Shepard and Davis gave higher ballpark numbers: The store manager said he heard between 20 and 50, and Davis estimated around 20 people stayed at the camp, noting the count varied day to day.  

Shepard said Food City’s been better off, estimating an 80% decrease in shoplifting since the clearout. “We just don’t have the problems that we did,” he said.

Davis said rumors have spread that the camp’s former residents have set up shop across the city — but she is skeptical of people’s alarm.

“A lot of people have been talking about the increase in crime and directly linking it to Tent City closing down,” Davis said. “I don’t feel that’s necessarily accurate information.”

Cloud attributed crimes like theft and shoplifting to the local effects of a state and nationwide opiate epidemic. “If you’re suffering from substance use disorder, your highest need is to get money to get your next fix and nothing else matters, right?” said Cloud. Shepard said he figured people were “fencing stolen goods” at the encampment. 

The camp was on land owned by Canadian National Railway, a large owner of properties surrounding railroad tracks in Vermont. Contrary to rumors in local social media groups, the city has not bought the land, nor has plans to do so, according to Cloud. After receiving complaints from neighbors, the city contacted Canadian National Railway and made a plan to break up the camp. 

City officials put the clearing-out in a larger context: Residents across St. Albans are upset about crime and see a link between bad behavior and people who spent time at Tent City. City leaders said they’re frustrated that repeat offenders are released soon after arrest. “The arrest is just an inconvenience in your day,” said Cloud, explaining when someone steals from a store, they’ll get a no-trespass order and get out later that day, only to rob someplace else. 

The city held a public safety forum June 18, largely to discuss drug-related crime. “Three-hundred people showed up on a hot night in June,” said Cloud. 

In May, 241 people used services like laundry, internet and showers through Samaritan House, Davis said. The waitlist there is long enough to fill the shelter three times over, she said. Earlier this year, a 48-year-old homeless man died in the area around Tent City on a cold night, according to the St. Albans Messenger.

In response to residents’ unrest, the St. Albans Police Department was set to launch a street crimes unit this month with two detectives focused on investigating drug-related crime.

Via Community News Service, a University of Vermont journalism internship.