ANGELO LYNN

Good progress. That’s an apt reflection of the town of Middlebury’s effort to manage its relatively small, and mostly cooperative, houseless population. 

Recent steps by the town have requested the five or so houseless residents who have been camping behind the Ilsley Library this summer and fall to vacate that area because of safety and other considerations. (See story, Page 1A.) While the town has requested those folks to move, it hasn’t suggested where they should move to, but other houseless residents in town have long camped out under the Cross Street Bridge and on other public parcels.

Where houseless individuals should relocate is the subtext of a draft policy on encampments, which the towns hopes to have in place before next summer. That policy, sorely needed over the past several years, will set some very reasonable parameters for the town’s houseless community that considers their well-being as well as the public’s sense of safety.

The art of drafting the policy hinges on those twin goals: ensuring the Middlebury community is comfortable being in the downtown at all times of the day or night, and on other public trails and parcels, while also providing public space for individuals who are houseless. 

The story, and its companion piece, are worth reading carefully to understand the nuances town policy must bridge. 

Consider that the town’s draft policy will prohibit encampments on certain public spaces — town parks, downtown sidewalks, on the premises of a government building like the library, town office, police station or schools, nor will encampments be allowed on the premises of hospitals, childcare facilities, a business or residence, private school or adult day-care facility, as well as on public trails and wildlife areas in town (and more.) Yet, the draft is unlikely to specify where encampments could be located.

That’s because advocates of the houseless community have acknowledged a community could open itself up to lawsuits and/or substantial financial responsibilities if it were to sanction encampments in specific areas.

That leaves an awkward, and less than ideal, ambiguity for the houseless community; just where does the town want them to locate? Certainly, knowing which areas were preferred by the town would make life easier for those individuals. 

Yet, we understand why it makes sense (from a legal perspective) not to specify such locations in any official capacity — even as the town might consider spaces that are more ideal than others, even if those areas remain undocumented.

Other progress is highlighted by the continued strengthening of relations between the houseless community and the town’s police department, the area’s mental health and health care providers, and those nonprofits working most closely with them. It truly is an extraordinary web of help offered respectfully to individuals who aren’t always treated with the compassion most deserve.

While the draft policy is near completion, selectman Andy Hooper was spot-on when he said more detail to the policy was needed to define how to enforce the policy — noting that it is “not an ordinance or law having fines or criminality.”  Nor does the draft policy address the issue of individuals hanging out during the day, or having “extended occupancy of public buildings, such as the Ilsley Library.” Residents might argue a companion policy be adopted concurrently.

In short, while the town has made progress, it’s not all peaches and cream. 

 Hooper recognizes the legitimate concerns the public feels when their sense of safety is threatened, such as when fights break out within the houseless community, or when there are visual displays of public drinking and arguing.

“All of these things are very complicated,” Hooper told reporter John Flowers in today’s story, noting that the “sense of lawlessness, even if it’s not criminal, (creates) a sense of society fraying a bit because of public disorder.”

Addressing that and other concerns is the policy’s objective. Middlebury residents who have opinions or helpful ideas should make those known now while the policy is still a draft.

Angelo Lynn