Hartford
Temperatures are expected to dip to 9 below in the Hartford area today, and 15 below on Thursday, according to the National Weather Service. Daytime temperatures are not expected to hit double digits until next week.
Those are potentially deadly numbers for people who live in any of a handful of tent encampments scattered around town.
As soon as temperatures dip below freezing, many people without housing find a couch, or come to stay at the Upper Valley Haven, a homeless shelter in White River Junction.
Those who don’t come in as the weather turns cold usually have their reasons, according to Sara Kobylenski, executive director of the Haven.
“They tend to be very self-sufficient. They tend to be people who are shy of social interaction. They’re often people with long, hard life stories,” Kobylenski said. “They would rather rely on themselves than anybody else.”
This year, however, the tents standing in the cold will nearly all be vacant, thanks to the new partnership, in which police officers and social workers join together to visit camp sites and make an effort to address their needs.
Renee Weeks, the Haven’s director of clinical services, said that in October, she, another Haven staff member and a police officer began trekking out to the tent sites every couple of weeks.
“Our approach was that it wasn’t to kick anyone out of where they were staying, but to be able to make sure people were aware of the resources in the community,” Weeks said.
At first, they went in the afternoon, but found they weren’t connecting with many people. So they began going in the early mornings, to catch people before they left the site. Weeks and the others carried backpacks of supplies to hand out — toiletries, warm socks, flashlights, hand warmers and phone numbers of places to call for help.
In all, the approach allowed them to identify 11 different individuals or family groups.
To protect the privacy of those involved, Weeks could only sketch the barest outlines of each group’s circumstances, but even those outlines were rife with tragedy.
One of the first families they reached included a father who worked, and a mother who was pregnant and worked full-time. Every day, the couple would bring their 7-year-old child to school. After the mother gave birth, the family made the difficult decision to place their children in the home of a relative, and the Haven helped them leave the encampment for housing with another relative.
Plans to arrange for subsidized housing for another family were ruined when the father, who had acted as the primary breadwinner, died of an overdose in their tent. In that case, the mother was able to move out of the tent to live with friends.
The last visit the trio made was just a couple of weeks ago, after the snow had already begun to stick to the ground.
“It was a chilly, chilly morning when we went,” Weeks said.
They walked about a half mile into the woods to find the tent site. When they arrived at the site, the team started, as they usually do, by explaining themselves to the closed tent, and asking if anyone was there. If there is no answer, they eventually peek inside each tent to make sure there’s no one in crisis inside.
In this case, a middle-aged man answered their calls and came out, wearing only a shirt.
“We had been there before, so he recognized us,” Weeks said. “He said, ‘Hi, how are you guys?’ ”
Weeks said the man explained that he was well set up to camp, and used a small propane system to heat his tent. He’d been living in the woods for years.
After Weeks and the others expressed concern for his well-being, he told them that he planned to move south this year, and promised to call Weeks to let her know he’d arrived safely.
“He hasn’t called,” she said. “We’re going to have to snowshoe out there to check on him.”
The middle-aged man is the only homeless resident that they’re aware of who they have not been able to successfully connect to services. The other 10 individuals and family groups have all been helped to find a warmer alternative, and six of those have been moved into dedicated housing.
Weeks said she suspects that there might still be other families out there whom they haven’t been able to connect with. To try to make contact, they plan to make their next visit at night.
Weeks credited the department’s approach under the leadership of Hartford Police Chief Phil Kasten, who came to the post in 2015.
“The police were really more aware of where all the sites were. They had a relationship with many of the people already. And they have the training to handle certain situations,” she said.
The model has been so effective that Kobylenski said other towns and social service agencies are taking notice.
“They were asked to do a joint presentation to the Vermont Coalition to End Homelessness,” she said.
Kobylenski said that chronic homelessness has been a big topic of discussion in other communities, including in Lebanon, recently, but that the proactive, help-oriented approach of the Hartford Police Department has been most effective.
“In Lebanon, they’re working hard to learn,” she said. “Hartford has evolved a bit further.”
She said she stands ready to talk with other civic leaders about how to bring the model to other communities.
“This approach works,” she said. “Both we and the Hartford Police Department are very happy to team up with any other towns that have questions in these areas.”
Kobylenski said the current cold snap could raise the stakes for a growing population of homeless individuals.
In 2010, the Haven opened the Hixon House, which was meant to address the existing need with a capacity of 21 adults or eight families. Because demand outpaced the Hixon House’s capacity in winter months, the Haven opened a seasonal shelter in 2015 with a maximum capacity of 18 beds to provide a warm bed during the coldest part of the year.
“The first year, we never went above nine people,” she said. “The second year the maximum was 15. This is the fourth winter, and on the first night, we had 16 people. We’ve not had fewer than 12 people any night since then.”
In the state of Vermont, certain frigid weather conditions can trigger a state requirement for the Department of Children and Families to provide warm housing for those in need. When the warming shelter filled up this year, Kobylenski said the Haven has had to take advantage of that service to put as many as four people at a time in area motels.
Weeks encouraged those who want to learn more about the services to call the Upper Valley Haven at 802-295-6500.
Matt Hongoltz-Hetling can be reached at mhonghet@vnews.com or 603-727-3211.