The Windham & Windsor Housing Trust is taking an active role in addressing the real challenges this building, its residents, and our community is facing. This includes making changes to the entrances to make them more secure, installing cameras in three additional locations, collaborating with outreach organizations to be present in the building, beefing up our maintenance presence, and holding residents accountable for their actions through the legal system. We routinely meet with the Brattleboro Police Department to share camera footage, patterns of behavior and any other information that we are legally able to share that can help them do their job. We are also an active participant in the Governor’s public safety initiative that created the One Brattleboro Group and the Situation Table that coordinates a cross organizational response to the challenges facing the community.
In spite of these efforts, there are persistent challenges that are impacting the people who live in this building. The front door has repeatedly been vandalized as people seek to enter the building. One person has repeatedly scaled the walls and broken into the second floor hallway window. Despite having camera footage, photos and personal recognition of the people engaged in these acts, we have not been able to hold them accountable because they haven’t been caught in the act by a police officer. We also do not have the ability to ‘no trespass’ these folks from the building because of the current regulations governing this legal tool. This is why we’re also working on a policy strategy to provide all housing providers with better legal tools to address situations like this. I’ve included a copy of the policy statement that outlines the problem and a way that both housing providers and law enforcement officials can work together more effectively.
What’s happening in Brattleboro is a nationwide problem and much bigger than one community, one organization or one building. Since Fentanyl flooded the drug supply around 2019, we’ve seen increasingly desperate behavior from people who are struggling with addiction because this drug is more powerful and addictive than anything we’ve encountered. It is 50 times more addictive than heroin and the cycle of impact on the body is shorter so people need to use more often to stave off the awful impacts of withdrawal. This is why in addition to updating the laws that will give housing providers better legal tools, we need more investments in medical assisted treated and extensive recovery options.
The Housing Trust is not ignoring these issues. They are simply very challenging and part of a larger problem that requires multiple solutions, some of which are not in our control. We are doing our part as best we can and will continue to do so.
Elizabeth Bridgewater
Executive Director
