WHITE RIVER JUNCTION — Eighteen chronically homeless community members have found a home on Hartford Avenue.

The 18 one-bedroom apartments, which first opened this fall and were developed by the White River Junction-based nonprofit Twin Pines, are now fully occupied by community members who are disabled and homeless for at least a year or repeatedly.

“It’s a beautiful place and they make it affordable,” said resident Freddy Bailey, 57, while walking his dog, Angel, around the building last week.

Each furnished unit is 494 square feet and includes an open kitchen and living room space, a bedroom, and a bathroom with an accessible shower. All three floors have a common room and offices for Upper Valley Haven staff members are located on the first floor.

Along with affordable housing, defined as 30% of a resident’s income, the residents receive social services from the Haven staff such as help finding a job, rides and emotional support. The new building sits next to the Haven’s homeless shelter, across from Hartford High School. 

“It takes so much time for someone to come in from homelessness to four walls,” said Sonya Bartley, the main service coordinator for residents in the building. Residents ideally should check in with Haven staff about once a week, she said.

After giving Angel a treat, Bailey walked down the hall to knock on the door of his neighbor, Happy Seaver.

Seaver, 69, lived in West Lebanon for over 40 years, and did maintenance at local schools. He is now retired and receives Social Security.

He moved into his apartment six weeks ago, but misses the freedom of the Maine woods where he had been living for eight months before his daughter brought him back to the Upper Valley.

“It’s hard to adjust,” Seaver said. “I’m very uncomfortable in a normal bed, which I never thought would happen.”

Erin Brown, 49, had been homeless since her apartment in Bellows Falls, Vt., was destroyed in a fire about five years ago. She lost everything.

Brown had spent the last three years or so at a hotel in White River Junction before moving into her Hartford Avenue apartment two months ago. Her rent is 30% of her monthly disability check. 

“This building isn’t a stepping stone to an apartment,” Brown said. “It is an apartment building like any other.”

So far, the residents are getting along, said Emily Healy, a service coordinator at the Haven. “People are taking care of each other,” she said. “Some people knew each other beforehand, but everyone’s become family.”

Emma Roth-Wells can be reached at 603-727-3242.