WHITE RIVER JUNCTION — Three small, homemade structures that provided temporary shelter to homeless people this winter but lacked permits have been put in storage and the people staying there have moved to nearby motels, according to town officials.
“The first thing we did is make sure people had a place to go,” Interim Town Manager John MacLean said Friday, adding that, while officials helped find alternative housing for people, the town wasn’t responsible for moving the structures.
Hartford Selectboard Vice Chairman Simon Dennis, who has been an advocate for people who are homeless over the last year, said the decision to move the structures followed some concerns from the public. Dennis helped several homeless people build the 6-by-10-foot structures last year out of caulk, polystyrene foam and wood and set them up behind Worcester Avenue, next to the railroad tracks in the early winter.
Some Hartford residents took issue with the structures, largely because they were put up without permits. After listening to concerns at a Selectboard meeting in mid-December, the board formed an ad-hoc committee to develop an emergency shelter for homeless people.
In the month since the committee was formed, its members have met several times and begun considering a plan for another permanent shelter in Hartford, which may take some inspiration from the huts, Dennis said.
He said the new shelter may include individual dwellings — similar in size to the huts — rather than one communal space. The shelter could also include basic amenities, like a dumpster, bathrooms, electricity, laundry and showers, which would be in a central building.
Dennis said the group is currently considering one location for the potential shelter, but declined to say where.
There’s no timeline for when the new shelter could go up, but Dennis said it likely won’t be by the end of this winter, largely because the town will have to go through an extensive permitting process.
If the plan for a new shelter does come to fruition, he said he hopes it will be funded largely through the “nonprofit sector.”
Addressing homelessness in Hartford became a major point of discussion at board meetings during 2020, largely because the COVID-19 pandemic forced the Upper Valley Haven to reduce the number of usable beds in its permanent shelter, and to close an annual cold weather shelter in order to reduce the risk of infection.
In response, the state offered motel vouchers, which allowed homeless people to access temporary shelter throughout the pandemic.
Anna Merriman can be reached at amerriman@vnews.com or 603-727-3216.