Manchester director of housing stability faces termination hearing

A showdown is looming in Manchester over the issue of homelessness.Later this week, the director of housing services is facing a termination hearing, a proceeding she wants to happen in public, after problems started to boil over last week.Some Manchester aldermen said Adrienne Beloin, the city's director of housing stability, went too far last week after she insinuated they just don't get it when it comes to the Queen City's homelessness issues."We've made an enormous amount of progress in this past year that we should be really proud of, and we shouldn't lose any momentum of where we're going," Beloin said at a meeting of the Board of Aldermen. "I know it's very hard for you to understand what the work is that we're doing, because this is not your field of work.">> Download the free WMUR app to get updates on the go: Apple | Google Play <<Alderman at-large Dan O'Neil chastised Beloin."I wish you'd stop talking down to the board, that we're dummies," he said. "We're responsible for every aspect of government in the city of Manchester, including what you do."A couple of days later, Beloin took to the airwaves. Speaking with Drew Cline from WFEA, she doubled down."Maybe they do believe they think they know how to run something better or how they think something should be set up, but they really don't," she said. "And that's not an insult to them. That's just a reality. That's not a background that anyone on that board has. And they need to be respectful to me as the person who has the insight on that."The dispute came as the board decided to relocate Beloin's office to the city's homeless shelter, a move she resisted."Those nine people that voted that way on Tuesday, we can expect for them to continue to vote in ways that are not going to improve homelessness in our city," Beloin said.Beloin declined to do an interview Monday, and Mayor Jay Ruais wouldn't comment, saying it's a personnel matter. But Beloin is now on paid leave and faces a termination hearing on Thursday unless she resigns beforehand."I don't really know of too many employees that have the gall to tell the Board of Mayor and Aldermen that they don't want to be put in a certain building or that they don't want their desk in a certain building," said Alderman at-large Joe Kelly Levasseur. "I've never seen that happen before."