BRATTLEBORO-The people who move into Hope’s House later this month won’t be told when they have to leave.
Groundworks Collaborative’s new 40-bed shelter at 81 Royal Rd. sets no end date on a stay. That’s one of several ways it differs from the emergency “shelter“ that most people think of when they hear the word.
Hope’s House is also substance-free. Every resident is paired with a case manager. And the building itself, the first that Groundworks has designed and built from the ground up for this purpose, is laid out around the work staff will do there with its residents.
Groundworks officially opened and named the $6.2 million shelter at a Sept. 23 gathering. Residents are scheduled to begin moving in during the second week of October.
“It’s an interesting model in that we don’t just provide a bed,” Susan Lienau, advancement director for Groundworks, said in a phone interview. “Our staff here at Groundworks, regardless of advocate, case manager, or director, are all very engaged [with] our residents. We know them. New people that come in, we get to know them.
“So we are very involved in their pathway and helping them achieve stability, whatever that looks like for each person.”
Two shelters, two purposes
Hope’s House is Groundworks’ second shelter. The organization also runs a drop-in center and overnight shelter on South Main Street and FoodWorks, at 141 Canal St., which Lienau describes as “the food pantry here in this area.”
She said the two serve different needs.
Vermont classifies shelters as either “low barrier” or ”high barrier,” which, Lienau said, “really just means there’s kind of different criteria eligibility for each one. Not every person who is experiencing homelessness is looking for the same sort of resource to be connected to.“
A low-barrier shelter, she said, “is more like the nightly shelter, an emergency shelter. Someone who is experiencing homelessness or being unhoused needs a bed for the night. Oftentimes we have people who stay more than one night, but it’s kind of that scenario.”
A high-barrier shelter can set conditions for its residents. At Hope’s House, residents must be in recovery or must not use illicit drugs or alcohol.
“Those two items won’t be allowed there,” Lienau said. “So right there, clearly some individuals would find that not to be a fit.”
How to get a bed
Placement starts with coordinated entry and the statewide list system that handles intake for people known to be experiencing homelessness. Lienau said anyone on that list can be eligible for Hope’s House, provided they meet shelter criteria.
Once someone has a bed at either Groundworks location, the work begins right away.
“Each person at Groundworks, when you have a bed with us, regardless of location, you are assigned a case manager who will work with you to develop your housing plan,” Lienau said.
She described the questions that plan tries to answer: ”What services are available? How can we increase your income? What housing opportunities might be available? What paperwork do you not have in place to be able to apply for an apartment?”
The intake form asks directly whether a person is actively using substances or is in recovery and whether they need mental health or recovery services. Residents at both locations meet regularly with their caseworkers to review their plans and check in on how they’re doing.
According to Groundworks’ announcement, staff members will help residents secure identification, raise their incomes, pursue housing, connect with health care and behavioral health resources, and look into potential jobs and training.
Residents in recovery or seeking recovery support will have on-site case managers from Health Care & Rehabilitation Services of Southeastern Vermont (HCRS), who will also connect them with outside resources.
Groundworks hopes to expand recovery services at Hope’s House over time through partnerships with other community providers.
Lienau said Groundworks does not test residents to enforce the substance-free rule, relying instead on the relationships staff members build with the people they serve.
“There’s no testing; we don’t drug-test people,” she said. “But I think given the relationship that’s built with people, it becomes obvious to our caseworkers.”
That familiarity reaches beyond case managers, she said.
“Certainly, quite honestly, myself, I’m familiar with the people who are downstairs regularly and know their baseline personality,” Lienau said. “When they seem a little more emotional or when that differs, those kind of things would indicate to any of the staff members here, ‘Let me talk to their case manager. I think you need to sit down with so and so. Something might be going on.’”
No end date
Many shelter programs cap stays at a set number of weeks or months. Groundworks does not, and Lienau said the reason is the local housing market.
“Groundworks’ philosophy doesn’t put an end date on that and, really, because someone might be doing all of the right things, might have all of their paperwork, might have even the money that they need to rent an apartment, but that apartment just isn’t available yet,” she said. “So timing people out and putting them back into the acute situations that we’ve worked to take them out of and move them forward would be far more devastating.”
Residents are expected to hold up their end, she said: doing the right thing, being respectful, and being members of the community, both inside Groundworks and in the wider town.
“We don’t ask anyone to leave until they are ready to go into their next opportunity, whether that’s an apartment or if they choose to pursue something different,” she said. “But we wouldn’t put a timeline on it.”
‘I wasn’t doing this alone’
Shelly, a longtime Groundworks client, described in a written statement provided through Groundworks what it was like to arrive there.
“When I first came to Groundworks, I was alone and afraid, and I didn’t know what my future was going to look like,” Shelly said, adding her situation reflects pressures many older Vermonters now face.
“As an older adult in Vermont, I know how increasingly difficult it has become to remain in your home or find an affordable place to live,” she said. “Between the housing crisis, medical debt, and the rising cost of living, it can be overwhelming. At Groundworks, I found people I could trust, the support I needed, and a sense that I wasn’t doing this alone.”
Shelly said she sees Hope’s House as the next rung on that ladder.
“Hope’s House creates an opportunity for people to take another step forward — to have greater independence while still receiving support, to feel a sense of belonging, and to continue working toward having a home of their own again,” she said.
For Shelly, the value of all of it comes down to what it makes possible.
“For someone who has experienced homelessness, having a place like Groundworks can give you hope for what comes next,” she said.
Shelly was comfortable sharing her experience using her first name but preferred to limit other identifying details to protect her privacy.
“Particularly in a small community, we believe it’s important to respect each individual’s choice about how much of their personal story becomes public,” Lienau said.
Designed for the work inside
The new facility replaces Morningside House, a shelter that operated on the same site from 1979 until the gruesome killing of its coordinator, social worker Leah Rosin-Pritchard, in 2023 by a shelter resident.
Zaaina Asra Zakirrah Mahvish-Jammeh, arrested for the crime on the scene, pleaded not guilty to first degree murder during her arraignment in 2023. Her trial is on theWindham Criminal Divisioncourt docket beginning Wednesday, Jan. 27, 2027 at the Windham District Court, with two days for a jury draw on Jan. 25 and 26.
A change of plea hearing is also on the docket for Wednesday, Oct. 21 at 1 p.m.
“What happened at our former shelter was a tragedy, and we don’t diminish its impact,“ Bennett said in a statement released the media. “We cannot change the past, but we have a responsibility to learn from it. Those lessons are reflected in how we’ve designed and programmed our new shelter, our approach to safety, and how we support our guests and staff. We’re carrying those lessons forward as Groundworks enters this next chapter.“
In a commentary written a year after the traumatizing event [“New beginnings,“ Voices, April 24, 2024], Bennett and Groundworks Board Chair Rita Ramirez said that after consultation with residents of the neighboring Morningside Commons condominium community and with housing and social service officials, locally and statewide, the agency had decided to “raze the existing buildings on the site and build a new, thoughtfully designed structure.”
“Renovating the existing farmhouse would be very expensive and would result in fewer people being served than the 30-bed program that we previously operated there,“ they wrote.
With Groundworks then having recently completed design and construction of its shelter on South Main Street, Bennett and Ramirez wrote that designing a space for a program anew, versus working with an existing space, “makes an incredible difference in functionality, safety, and program success.”
“With a well-designed new building, we can offer 40 beds and versatile program space with carefully placed sightlines,” they wrote. “Coupled with 24-hour, 7-day-a-week staffing, these changes will allow us to more adequately monitor the comings and goings of shelter guests, more effectively support those guests programmatically, and provide a safer shelter experience for everyone.”
Hope’s House was designed by Duncan Wisniewski Architecture, a Burlington-based firm. Principal Sam Beall said having a building made for the purpose, rather than adapting an existing one, changed how the team could approach it.
“Working closely with Groundworks staff, we designed Hope’s House with trauma-informed principles at the heart of the process — from welcoming, human-scaled spaces and flexible areas for programming to natural light, gardens, outdoor spaces, and a walking loop,” Beall said in Groundworks’ announcement.
Safety features are built into the design and the building has dedicated space for case management, housing navigation, recovery support, and connections to healthcare and jobs.
“Hope’s House has been thoughtfully designed and intentionally programmed around dignity, safety, accountability, and hope,” Groundworks Executive Director Libby Bennett said.
The shelter is named for Hope Chapman, a Brattleboro resident who donated the property’s original farmhouse on the condition that it be used to help people experiencing homelessness.
Members of the Chapman family attended the Sept. 23 opening.
“Hope understood that caring for people experiencing some of life’s most difficult circumstances is part of what it means to build a strong community,” Bennett said. “Her name will remain on this property not simply as a remembrance of where this story began, but as a reminder of what this place is here to make possible.”
Who paid for it
The $6.2 million project was funded by a mix of public, institutional, and private money.
Major partners included the Vermont Housing & Conservation Board and Evernorth, along with individuals, foundations, and local businesses. U.S. Bancorp Impact Finance contributed private capital through Evernorth’s New Markets Tax Credit program.
Beth Boutin, Evernorth vice president of community investments, said the nonprofit provided financing through New Markets Tax Credits and the Evernorth Loan Fund, as well as consulting before construction began.
Local, state, and federal officials and lawmakers celebrated the opening of the facility.
Brattleboro Selectboard member Isaac Evans-Frantz tied the shelter to the board’s economic development priorities.
“Safe shelter and supportive services help create the conditions for more people to participate in the workforce, contribute to our community, and build more stable lives,” Evans-Frantz said. “Groundworks has pursued this project with tenacity and transparency.”
Chad Simmons, executive director of the Housing & Homelessness Alliance of Vermont, a statewide advocacy organization, said the opening “highlights what’s possible in designing and building dignified solutions to our state’s housing and homelessness challenges.”
“The attention given to creating a space for people to be safe, feel loved, and ultimately find a pathway to permanent affordable housing, is a model we should echo, amplify, and replicate throughout the state,” said Simmons, a former Brattleboro resident.
U.S. Rep. Becca Balint, a Brattleboro resident, called Hope’s House “exactly the kind of investment we need to make sure every Vermonter has a safe, stable place to call home.”
U.S. Sen. Peter Welch said “with housing and food insecurity on the rise, Groundworks’ core mission of helping people meet their basic needs while treating everyone with dignity and respect is more important than ever.”
Neighbors at the table
While Hope’s House was being developed, Groundworks met with residents of the surrounding Morningside Commons neighborhood. They discussed the building’s safety features, the rules for residents, including the ban on drugs and alcohol, and the services that would be offered.
In June, Groundworks leaders and Morningside residents formed the Common Ground Committee. Groundworks says the group will keep meeting regularly now that the shelter is open as a standing place to raise questions and work through problems.
Talks have also started about gardening, activities, and other ways neighbors might get involved.
“We want our neighbors to know how to reach us, and we want to know when something isn’t working as it should,” Bennett said. “Being a good neighbor means being accessible, responsive, and accountable.”
This News item by Virginia Ray was written for The Commons.