BURLINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) – Is positive change on the horizon for one of Burlington biggest problem properties?
WCAX News reported two years ago that Decker Towers, the state’s largest subsidized housing project, was being overrun by drug trafficking, drug users and the homeless searching for housing. Residents felt they were trapped and improvements were slow in coming.
Now, residents say there are big improvements at Decker Towers. And the Burlington Housing Authority says there’s still more work to do.
Cathy Foley, the president of the resident council, and Michael Roberge, the head of the neighborhood watch, walk me through Decker Towers.
“As we go through the building at night, last year every floor– both sides of the building– this would have been packed with people,” Roberge said, “sleeping on the stairs, passed out on the stairs, urinating, defecating, needles all over the place.”
But now, it’s a different story.
“I think things are greatly improved over last year,” Foley said. “We’re not there yet, but I would say that in comparison to this time last year, the building is safe.”
The once-tense relationship between tenants and the property manager, the Burlington Housing Authority, is now collaborative.
Hired security does sweeps through the building to help kick out people found sleeping in the stairwells. And the residents have their own community watch which they say is trained in deescalation.
“There’s nothing vigilante about it; we are the eyes and ears for BHA and for the security services that come in,” Foley said.
Residents say the drug issue is disappearing, too.
“Most of the people who were dealing drugs in this building, BHA has evicted,” Foley said.
“There was no silver bullet. It was literally hundreds of small changes that just made going to our properties less attractive,” said Steven Murray, the executive director of the Burlington Housing Authority.
Murray says collaborating with the residents and the city has made a difference. From the residents having more of a say with everything being run past the resident council, to just getting problem tenants out.
“Without the massive amount of people selling drugs in the building due to the evictions, we are finding people are not coming to the building right now,” Murray said.
But with colder weather still in front of us and the drug crisis still an issue, Murray won’t declare victory.
“I’m not going to declare victory right now, the problem is systemic in Burlington,” Murray said.
But for the residents living together and now hosting events like karaoke, it’s a step forward.
“The people want it to be a community,” Foley said.
So where have the people gone who were camping inside or dealing drugs? I’m told some of them are now causing issues at other apartment and retail buildings in the city.
Meanwhile, Murray says he is in the process of evicting more of Decker Towers’ bad tenants.