“When you find someone with bloody needles on a sofa, ok, I don’t have a lot of options as a landlord,”
"Burlington doesn’t have a Decker Tower problem, Burlington has an opioid problem,” said Steven Murray, director of the Burlington Housing Authority.
Uhhh....
(Sorry about the wcax link!)
Restraining orders,
You still need someone to enforce a restraining order, and tbh I’ve heard many stories of those orders being ineffective even when police do respond to violations of said orders.
good first step because even if they violate it they will start facing criminal penalties.
Eviction is hard in the state but having a tenant violating laws is a great way to expedite the process.
It seems like exceptions should be made to evict opioid dealers sooner.
Right? And I wonder why they aren't arrested. Wouldn't that get them out of there?
Arresting our way out of the problem has NEVER worked, but whatever.
I read the article: I kind of agree with Bonespur. We could open injection stations. This way we can cut down on overdoses. Arresting people makes better criminals. I will admit heroin addiction is a HUGE issue, if we can’t stop people from using, we may have to make things safer for the vulnerable. Dealing is a business though. The dealers have to go. If they are caught, eviction should be swift.
The tragedy is: the disabled and elderly are caught up in this.
They will never solve this problem without addressing the economic inequalities in our nation.
Arresting Dealers is entirely different than arresting addicts. Technically speaking, Dealers are guilty of manslaughter if anyone ODs on the opioids they sold.
What? How do we know they haven't been arrested? They could just be waiting for arraignment or court proceedings. They could have been convicted and let out, too. Point is, how would any of that "get them out of there"?
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There are tenant protections and I bet Vermont legal aid goes bananas if they try to evict a dealer.
My mom lives in public housing in another state and doesn’t have to deal with drug dealers and people shooting heroin bc it’s for people 65 and older with certain income limits.
Elderly Vermonters shouldn’t have to put up with this. Create rehab housing and put them there if they’re willing to get clean.
That works in theory. In practice no town in VT would allow it to be built. Look at what happened with the woodside replacement. No one will agree to it.
Honest question, where exactly are they planning to send the evicted people? An Opioid addiction isn't just something you can throw on the street. These people need help! Maybe the state needs to start actually looking at mental health and making better opportunities for people to get the help they need!!! So landlords like this don't have to just throw them out on the street! We already have a homelessness problem, and the current plan will continue to perpetuate it!
I think all most folks are saying is that low barrier housing for former prisoners maybe shouldn't be in a building for the elderly and disabled that doesn't seem so outlandish/nimby-ish. It's just a bad combination.
You got a point. Perhaps more halfway houses are needed?
Maybe, and/or just felon-friendly housing that's not sprinkled among the elderly/disabled. I love it when people succeed when they get out but it doesn't always break that way and when that happens a bunch of frail elderly neighbors in a giant building is just not optimal.
I totally agree.
You're not wrong! It's absolute garbage that the state doesn't have nice places for our elderly and disabled to live that won't completely bankrupt their families. the places that do exist for those who are low income and elderly or low income and disabled are just like this all over this state. It's not just a BHA issue it's a vermont issue.
Great points but they don’t fit the “doom and gloom” narrative over this subject.
welp - I live in enough doom and gloom internally - Maybe I don't want to think like that on the outside. :|
Yeah it’s more of an indictment of the vibe of this place.
Sounds like the vibe of that building too. Unless that what you were talking about 😑
I mean it's not opioid addicts that need evicting, it's the opioid dealers, no? From a tenants rights perspective that should be the minimum expected. Get the dealers out, the addicts won't come and it at least solves the issue of the other tenants being shrugged at by the city saying, "whelp, nothin we can do about it." Who's more important to protect here, the drug dealers or the elderly and disabled?
Side note: If a jail was ever built for anything, it's for murderers. Murderers often include fentanyl and heroin dealers, whether or not they were standing next to the person when it happened.
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Bingo. Until we finally redo federal health care, there is not much we can do. Instead of having proper health care, we are forcing the mentally ill and addicts on to other poor people
It’s almost like making a building dedicated solely to the poor, instead of mixed income, is a bad idea 🧐
Especially so if you don’t pair it with wrap around services - With law enforcement on site, mental health providers nearby, and employment services close by as well.
Welcome To Rutland! Oh I mean Burlington
Human802 t1_je9a1ds wrote
“To help deter crime, the Burlington Housing Authority says it has added over $120,000 worth of surveillance cameras to all of its properties and more lights will be added.”
That’s a bleak. Not sure how cameras with deter anyone if their is no enforcement.