Homelessness Advocates Brace For Tidal Wave”

Nora Grace-Flood photo

Paul C. at the "Tent City" encampment on the West River.

City officials and local professionals concerned with combatting homelessness gathered at City Hall to sound the alarm on a growing housing crisis — as they considered ways to pay for more affordable places for New Haveners to live.

The question of how to expand the city’s deeply affordable housing stock was raised during a legislative workshop held inside Aldermanic Chamber on the second floor of City Hall. 

The Board of Alders Health and Human Services Committee hosted a workshop to discuss the obstacles standing between New Haveners and safe shelter this year — and heard back about doubling rates of homelessness, increasingly cost-burdened households, and a lack of apartments, shelter beds and even spots on the streets for people to find refuge as winter sets in.

Read more here about some of the unique and exacerbated issues facing New Haveners this year, and how the city is aiming to address them — from the establishment of pop-up showers and library-based case workers to soft plans to put federal dollars towards long-term transitional housing.

Over the course of about four hours, the aldermanic committee at the Thursday night session heard from 10 agencies partnering with the city to tackle various issues contributing to housing insecurity in the Greater New Haven area. 

City Community Services Administrator Mehul Dalal, Department of Community Resilience Director Carlos Sosa-Lombardo and city Homelessness Coordinator Velma George helped to host the event and addressed the alders on behalf of the Elicker Administration. 

Post-pandemic we looked at next steps for this office,” George recalled. We saw the tidal wave that was heading towards us with a lack of affordable housing.”

Dalal likened the task of restructuring the city’s homelessness services to support a growing number of unhoused individuals to fixing a broken bone with a Band-Aid.”

Beyond a lack of state and federal funding to address the immediate problems faced by New Haveners sleeping on the streets, Sosa-Lombardo noted deeper concerns with housing available within New Haven.

He reported that just 1.3 percent of the New Haven-Milford area’s housing stock is currently vacant. That’s compared to a state vacancy rate of 2.1 percent and national rate of 5.6 percent. He added that 37 percent of households within New Haven are considered cost-burdened, meaning that more than 30 percent of their monthly household income goes toward paying the rent.

Those three city officials called on representatives from about 10 partner organizations — such as the United Way of Greater New Haven, the Community Action Agency of New Haven, New Haven’s Regional Street Outreach and Library Services, Youth Continuum, Columbus House, New Reach, Christian Community Action, Fellowship Place, and Elm City Compass — to testify to the problems they face each day while trying to get people into stable housing. 

New Reach Executive Director Kellyann Day with Reverend Bonita Grubbs and Nionni Graham. Graham was the only individual facing housing insecurity who spoke Thursday — to express her gratitude that an organization like New Reach helped her bounce back from threat of foreclosure.

Thursday's aldermanic committee.

Kelly Fitzgerald, who runs the United Way’s Coordinated Access Network (CAN) — a centralized system that aims to connect individuals with beds, shelter and ultimately stable housing — said that the number of people seeking support from CAN through personalized appointments has doubled over the past four years. In November 2019, 288 individuals had their names on a list requesting support from CAN. This November, that list is made up of 617 different names.

Fitzgerald said that 600 is also the rough estimate of individuals in New Haven who are currently literally homeless;” 80 percent of those people camping out in New Haven are also considered to be from the city, because their last place of residence was New Haven. 

It’s definitely really concerning,” she said. The need has grown so much. But we haven’t necessarily seen the funding grow with it.”

Mary Guererra, the executive director of Fellowship Place, has led an effort to establish apartment complexes for individuals living in poverty who may be in need of rehabilitative support services. She, like virtually every individual called upon to speak Thursday, urged the city to not just promote more affordable housing, but to create deeply affordable housing.

We’re not talking about an $800 rent, we’re not talking about a $500 rent,” she stated. We’re talking as little as $59 a month,” she said, noting that for many New Haveners, including those at Fellowship Place, $60 is a third of their monthly income as they struggle to secure safe, consistent, and decently waged work.

Patti Walker works as the executive director for Continuum of Care, a nonprofit that provides supportive housing for individuals with developmental disabilities and mental health disorders. She noted that the lack of affordable housing has stalled her organization’s ability to assist their target populations, asserting that they have more than 50 individuals who are ready to move out of the facility and live in independent housing, but who are continuing to take up bed space because they’re now sitting on a waiting list for housing.”

Margaret Middleton, the executive director of one of New Haven’s only homeless shelters, Columbus House, agreed with Guererra and Walker’s assessments.

She was asked by Newhallville/Prospect Hill Alder Steve Winter how she would suggest paying for more deeply affordable housing. He mentioned that one of the only financing mechanisms that has proved successful in catalyzing applications for affordable housing projects is the state’s 9 percent tax credit for new construction and rehabilitation — which translates to subsidies of up to 70 percent for such developments.

I hear you, that really is the challenge,” Middleton said. When I read the comments section of the New Haven Independent,” she added, I don’t think people realize it’s actually incredibly expensive” to create affordable housing.

Middleton argued that building more units per project is the most cost-efficient way to strength the city’s housing stock. The more units you have the more economy of scale you have in an operating facility,” she said, rooting for communal living opportunities that still provide an alternative to the kind of mass congregation offered in shelters like Columbus House. 

As provider after provider listed concerns with New Haven’s housing stock as well as local, state and federal funding limitations for homeless services, Fair Haven Alder Sarah Miller questioned how the voices of individuals directly experiencing the absence of affordable housing options were being heard and factored into the conversation.

Colville protesting the treatment of New Haven's economic refugees outside of City Hall last Tuesday.

Local organizer Mark Colville stepped up to talk about his work directly assessing the needs of people living on the streets this year. Colville runs the Hill’s Amistad Catholic Worker House, the backyard of which has been converted into an encampment for about ten people without housing. He also helped found the Unhoused Activist Community Team (U‑ACT), a group whose leadership is made up of unhoused New Haveners fighting for changes in how the city treats them and their neighbors living on the streets or in shelters.

He argued that as the city frets about funding and long-term solutions to homelessness, action is needed now to make day to day life more livable for people camping out in the cold.

The leadership of U‑ACT, he said, want an end to evictions of people with nowhere else to go off public land — as well as permanent public restrooms and storage spaces. I don’t think funding is really an issue in terms of any of those requests,” Colville said. These are initiatives that are very accessible to the city that would help tremendously right now.”

As those testifying in front of the alders considered how to incentivize landlords to allow individuals with poor credit scores or criminal histories into apartments, Colville asked the alders to recognize that the local political body is not committed to systemic change.” 

As housing rights remain a capitalist enterprise, Colville said, New Haven needs to realize that if you’re unhoused, the emergency is tonight.” 

See below for more recent Independent articles about homelessness, activism, and attempts to find shelter this winter.

Breakfast Delivery Warms Up​“Tent City”
Warming Centers Open, While City Looks To Long-Term Homeless Fixes
​“Human Rights Zone” Grows In Hill Backyard
Homeless Hotel Plan Scrapped. What’s Next?
Election Day Rally Casts Ballot For Housing

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