Homeless people camping in Middlebury say they have nowhere to go

MIDDLEBURY, Vt. (WCAX) - The town of Middlebury is working to establish a camping ordinance to address homelessness in the area. But many have nowhere to go.

"All we doing is trying to survive. We don't bother nobody. We just trying to live, and they need to see if they can find somewhere for the homeless," said Timothy Edwaras of South Carolina.

For the last six months, Edwaras has been living outside with a group of other unhoused people. The town of Middlebury asked them to leave but with no space at local homeless shelters, they have no place to go.

"They want us to go back down on the concrete. With sweaty drips, it's cold. You can't stay warm, on concrete slabs right on the river. It's cold," Edwaras said.

Officials say the encampment is too close to a transformer and blocks safety exits, making it too dangerous to live there. But they say they cannot be responsible for where the homeless go and have given them no direction on possible opportunities.

The town's homeless task force is trying to find other solutions. They're checking in with people at the encampment about their next steps.

Police report several disturbances in the last several weeks.

"We are seeing a lot of fighting, getting lots of reports of fighting amongst the group. Again, not directed at members of the public," Middlebury Police Chief Jason Covey said.

Though the number of homeless individuals in Addison County is lower than last year, down from 161 to 144, officials with the Charter House, a homeless shelter in Middlebury, are seeing opposite trends.

"The numbers that we have served through Charter House though, has almost doubled. Last year we served 84 individuals. This last year we served 146 individuals," said Heidi Lacey of the Charter House Coalition.

Their beds are full. But 86 households in Addison County remain without shelter, many of them with children.

The people living in the homeless encampment behind the town offices and the library are not sure where they are going to go. But they are going to start picking up their things and moving somewhere else in the next couple of days.