WHITE RIVER JUNCTION — Members of a town committee who have been working to develop a permanent location where homeless people could live say they’ve run into some barriers, with one of the biggest being Hartford’s own restrictions on camping.

The Hartford Ad-Hoc Committee on Emergency Shelter, which was appointed earlier this year by the Selectboard, is calling on the town to ease some of those zoning restrictions, specifically by increasing the number of campsites allowed at a non-campground property from two to four, and by allowing homeless people to live in parked RVs. Currently, people cannot stay in an RV, or recreational vehicle, in Hartford for more than 14 days per year if it’s not in a licensed campground.

Loosening the zoning restrictions would mean more opportunities for homeless people to find temporary shelter, according to state Rep. Becca White, D-Hartford, who serves on the committee and made a presentation to the Selectboard on Tuesday night. It may also help members of the committee secure a more permanent location as they talk to local churches about the possibility of setting up RV camps on church property, she said.

The committee’s suggestions follow months of work to develop a permanent shelter for the homeless community somewhere in Hartford. Initial plans included nine individual micro-dwellings, which could be set up on town or private property — with the property owner’s consent — and would include heating units and electricity, according to former Selectboard member Simon Dennis, who serves on the committee.

However, White said the group looked at 106 properties, including public parks and school- and town-owned properties, as potential shelter sites, but came up empty. One of the more promising locations, on Christian Street, which the group was discussing last month, also fell through, she said.

“I’m very optimistic that there is a path forward, but I’m not seeing the clear next step,” for the original plan, White said in an interview Wednesday. She explained that in addition to camping restrictions, committee members ran into a number of other local and state zoning regulations that prohibited them from exploring certain sites. “This is a tough slog to get the type of encampment we’re talking about.”

White said now is a critical time to address the issue because Hartford is looking at a boom in its homeless population within the next few months.

Once the state’s motel voucher program, which was put into place to provide shelter for homeless people during the COVID-19 pandemic, eventually ends, many people who were staying in those motels will find themselves homeless again, she said.

There are currently 140 people using the voucher program in Hartford alone, and the committee predicts one-third of them will end up living outside once the program ends. Projections from senior caseworkers at the Upper Valley Haven indicate the new homeless population could be three times the town’s historical average, according to White’s presentation.

Additionally, an eviction moratorium put into place during the pandemic is scheduled to end in July, which could add to the increase in the population.

“We are at a precipice at the moment – we’re coming into a place where we’re losing a lot of those potential social safety nets from COVID,” White said at the Selectboard meeting. “We have an opportunity to be proactive where in a few months we may not have that same opportunity.”

The Selecboard did not make any decisions following White’s presentation Tuesday, but Selectboard Chairman Dan Fraser said he and his colleagues would wait for further input from the Planning Board.

Anna Merriman can be reached at amerriman@vnews.com or 603-727-3216.