Rockingham plans shelter for homeless

The Selectboard has agreed to spend $10,000 to set up an overnight shelter for the homeless in Bellows Falls this winter.

[Absurdity in BFRock]

Shelters are necessary but for a community that does not want a crematorium near their precious "historic artist community and fine dining areas" this is absurd. This shelter will be closer to these areas than the proposed crematorium.

[gimmeshelter]

Actually, this will be like the rest of Bellows Falls and the "historic artist community and fine dining areas." It will be closed during the day!

[The Brattleboro Informer]

If you build it they will (be)come homeless and never leave.

[a cold vermonter]

three cheers for you. about time seeing tax dollars really helping out

[Mary D]

Is it Steve Moore that owns the building?
My how fast can you move on this Dec 1 wow wish it was that easy for all the other folks.

[homeless4eva]

yes, the Moore Mafia seems to have expedited this one.

[America no more]

put the homeless shelter on Parker Hill or in Bartonsville or Saxton's River. See how much support it gets from the socially conscious bleeding hearts. Incredible. Maybe in the summer, when it's closed in the mornings, they can go around and measure lawns for violations. Jeesh.

[Ben Long]

The Brattleboro Informer wrote:

If you build it they will (be)come homeless and never leave.

Yeah I'm sure there people will just be lining up to abandon their homes and reside permanently in a shelter in Bellows Brooklyn Vermont.

[flat lander]

Ben The informer is on the track. the homeless don't have the speed of the NET but when at the shelter most of the talk is about the stock and economy and many discuss the CEO BENEFIT package at GM. although a couple do ask about where else can we go and their is that reference to HEY JOE NEW SPOT IN B?F so wanta move on. BEN IT'S TO FULL ALREADY SO IF WE ADD A WING AND COSTS WILL BE COVERED by Who? maybe those rich people in Newfane !

[conan]

Ben Long wrote:

<quoted text>
Yeah I'm sure there people will just be lining up to abandon their homes and reside permanently in a shelter in Bellows Brooklyn Vermont.

yo Ben - get it right. it is not Bellows Brooklyn. it is FallsVegas.

[brainstormin]

All of the social services needed by homeless people are in springfield, not bf. It's not logical to put a shelter in the village, as there is no support. Whast next, a soup kitchen on main st? Yes, this project is illogical because it has not got the least amount of planning behind it. Just throw money at a problem. Not a problem, SMoore.

[BFCares]

Homelessness not a problem? If there isn't a problem, then the shelter will be empty. That won't be the case. I can think of four people off the top of my head in BF that will use this to warm up on winter nights.

They could've gone to the OOna's building, but that was underinsured and destroyed by fire. The new owners have shown no promise to rebuild anytime soon. The upstairs of the Windham Hotel has not been refurbished by its investors, the "Liberty Town" amusement park down by the sewer plant sits a shell, the old Sovernet Building remains underutilized, Meatland is a wreck, and the list goes on.

This proposed Canal Street spot , however, is in a building that has been financially sustained. It has heat and apparently is not in danger of being foreclosed or condemned. That is a good thing.

I sure hope it has adequate staff and I hope it closes by Summer. But these winter months are brutal, and regardless of how these people got in their predicament, a warm place to regroup at night would be a decent gift by the BF community.

[Joe]

wow free heat and showers for the winter, is it near a bar so people can go drink and walk to the shelter ? what time in the morning does the bar open ? Why should people spend their drinking money they get from disability on heating their camp/cabin during the winter, just go to a shelter and pass out after a day of drinking at a shelter and go mooch free food at the soup kitchen.

[brainstormin]

it just does not make sense to have a shelter in a small town with NO SOCIAL SERVICES except for Our Place Drop In Center. Springfield is the logical choice, based upon sustainable service organizations and the population base. Easily accessable by bus. More opportunities to find work, get fed, locate longer-term housing.

In my father's day, there was a "protector of the poor", sort of a road agent position. SOmeone who made sure homeless persons and families had shelter, food and warmth through the winter months. Nowadays, no one feels fearless unless to indertake this job and towns do not allocate funds for this, and I mean ALL towns, not just a few.