Vt. Human Rights Comm'n, HV19-0018, Investigative Report & Reasonable Grounds Determination

Generally, Mr. Deery does not have a lease with tenants, and the agreement he has with tenants
"is a handshake."l0 Mr. Deery said, "Ms. Weygant asked for an agreement because she had to
have something on paper because United Counseling was footing the bill."ll Ms. Weygant
recalled that Mr. Deery provided the rent agreement, and she said that the father of the child
helped her pay the money needed in order to move into the apartment.12

Neither Ms. Weygant nor Mr. Deery reported having problems with one another during the first
year Ms. Weygant lived in Mr. Deery's apartment.l3 Mr. Deery said, "Ms. Weygant used to
make stuff and bring it over to [Mr. Deery] and [his] wife."r4 He also said Ms. Weygant used to
come over and sit with Mr. Deery's wife on the front porch.15 Ms. Weygant said, "I got along
with [Mr. Deery] and his wife...I was there at his house every single day talking with his wife.
We had a good relationship initially."l6

Ms. Weygant began receiving Section 8 housing assistance through Bennington Housing
Authority (BHA) in June of 2017.17 In June of 2018, BHA changed the method by which
landlords of tenants with Section 8 would receive their payment.ls Instead of allowing landlords
to receive payment by check, BHA began requiring landlords to use direct deposit.le In May of
2018, Mr. Deery told Ms. Weygant that he would no longer be accepting Section 8 voucher
payments.2o Mr. Deery stated that he stopped taking Section 8 because of the changes in their
rules, explaining that Section 8 was going to require him to use direct deposit, which he did not