BURLINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) – Despite a warning from Burlington authorities nearly two weeks ago to remove tents, some residents of a homeless encampment on Battery Street don’t appear to be going anywhere.
For months, about a dozen tents have lined the grass along Battery Street. The city on January 11 told people living there they would have to leave. While some tents were removed, some residents remain.
Rocco Wells’ tent on Monday was surrounded by empty beer cans, needle caps, and other garbage. Wrapped in blankets, Wells told us he was out of propane and didn’t want to open the tent to let in cold air. “I have to take my door off to get out of here,” he said.
Wells says he has been living there for several months and knows he has to leave soon.
Reporter Ike Bendavid: You’re expected to be kicked out this week, by Friday. Do you have a place to go?
Rocco Wells: No, I don’t.
Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger says its illegal for people to camp in city parks and the city is taking steps to enforce that. He says after the notice was given, many packed up and the city started to clean what was left behind. He says they are trying to work with each individual to find a better situation. “It’s very hard to do that work right now because every night the winter warming shelter is turning away folks, the hotel program is turning away folks,” Weinberger said.
The mayor says they waited to give notice until the new winter warming shelter in Burlington opened in the old VFW. But since that opened, people have been waiting in line for hours and are then told the shelter is over capacity.
Sarah Russell, the city’s special assistant to end homelessness, says more than 100 people have been helped since the start of January. “It’s heartbreaking, having worked a shift where I have to tell folks we don’t have a bed for them. It’s probably one of the hardest things I have had to do in the course of my career,” she said.
The mayor has said state officials need to do more to address what they call the shamefully high rate of unsheltered people in the city. In the meantime, they are working to open an extreme cold weather emergency shelter.
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