by | Apr 24, 2023 8:45 am | Comments (6)
Thomas Breen photo
Ben Ajruli (right) enters another bid as Omar Kh prepares to counter at Saturday's foreclosure auction.
Omar Kh and Ben Ajruli had already gone back and forth and back and forth for 29 rounds at a Hilltop Road tax foreclosure auction when Kh leaned towards his bidding opponent and said seven words that tipped the sale in his favor.
by and | Apr 21, 2023 3:37 pm | Comments (14)
Laura Glesby Photos
Myra Smith: "Even those who have affordable housing are living in deplorable conditions."
Around a hundred education, climate, library, transit, and housing advocates sat through hours of public testimony on Thursday night.
A resounding call for more affordable housing and better housing code enforcement filled the Board of Alders’ chambers, as roughly 100 community members gathered for a final round of public testimony on next fiscal year’s proposed city budget.
by | Apr 20, 2023 2:44 pm | Comments (15)
Thomas Breen photo
Construction underway at 842-848 Chapel.
Shoveling ceremonial dirt for "The Archive."
One hundred and sixty-six new market-rate apartments — and at least one sauna — are en route for Chapel Street thanks to two new now-under-construction buildings slated for two long-vacant lots downtown.
by | Apr 20, 2023 9:16 am | Comments (29)
A rendering of the Roger Road home and proposed detached ADU.
A Westville homeowner got the go-ahead to convert a two-car garage into housing for his aging father — after applying for zoning relief to raise the building’s roof and responding publicly to a neighbor’s concerns about property values and personal privacy.
by | Apr 19, 2023 10:52 am | Comments (45)
Nora Grace-Flood photos
Encampment residents unfolding their egg and cheeses Tuesday morning.
A view of the tents around Amistad House's backyard.
Refugees from a bulldozed West River encampment are taking shelter at an alternative, mission-based outdoor site in the Hill as they plan next steps to get back on their feet — while amping up their commitment to addressing the roots of housing injustice.
by , and | Apr 18, 2023 2:18 pm | Comments (4)
Thomas Breen Photo
LCI's Javier Ortiz on a recent housing code inspection.
If Mayor Elicker wants to improve public health and safety in New Haven, he must invest in stronger housing code enforcement in this year’s budget and increase tenant oversight of the Livable City Initiative (LCI).
by | Apr 18, 2023 9:13 am | Comments (27)
Paul Bass Photo
Construction workers on one of the roofs of fast-rising 398-unit 201 Munson project.
Hair salon owner Kay Smith-Holness: Feeling "squeezed."
Construction crews have begun building a new neighborhood on separate lots within one block of Karaine “Kay” Holness’s hair salon.
by | Apr 17, 2023 3:05 pm | Comments (20)
Laura Glesby file photo
Affordable housing groundbreaking on Dixwell last August
Should Connecticut prioritize constructing affordable housing in economic hubs like New Haven, or exclusive towns like New Haven’s surrounding suburbs?
by | Apr 17, 2023 1:32 pm | Comments (6)
Thomas Breen photos
Ray Shaw: No parking meters needed during Chapel construction closure.
Closed eastbound lanes on Chapel at Church.
Ray Shaw hustled out of the rain and back towards his city transit department van after turning off the parking meters on an eastbound block of Chapel Street that will be closed to car-and-foot traffic for the next 16 months to make way for the construction of 166 new downtown apartments.
Continue reading ‘Construction Boom Shutters Chapel Lanes, Sidewalk For 16 Months’
by | Apr 14, 2023 5:28 pm | Comments (12)
Thomas Breen photos
City inspector Javier Ortiz examines loose tiles and "compromised" subfloor at 23 Vernon, Apt. 2.
A full house for Friday's inspection: Legal aid attorneys Amy Marx and Richard Hine, city attorney Mike Pinto, and LCI's Ortiz and Mark Stroud.
Javier Ortiz leaned over and picked up a triangular shard of cracked ceramic tile from the bathroom floor of a second-story Vernon Street apartment.
The city housing code inspector now had two questions to ask.
by | Apr 13, 2023 4:10 pm | Comments (7)
Thomas Breen file photo
Judge Spader: If tenant's out by May, eviction case will disappear.
A state judge granted a Newhallville tenant an eviction reprieve after a Fair Haven Heights landlord testified that the renter could move into an apartment he owns on Lenox Street, thus sparing her from getting kicked out of her current home.
Continue reading ‘Lenox Landlord Prevents Sheffield Eviction’
by | Apr 12, 2023 4:22 pm | Comments (15)
Laura Glesby photo
Florence Virtue renter Gail Stokes: “Something’s not right.”
Half-dollar debt paid, by mystery benefactor.
When Gail Stokes opened her Dixwell apartment’s front door, she didn’t expect a court marshal who had come to deliver an eviction notice. “I stood at the door and just started shaking,” she said.
The 73-year-old tenant held the notice. Sat down. Turned on the oxygen tank that helps her breathe. And called the property manager — who explained to her that she owed 50 cents.
by | Apr 12, 2023 1:59 pm | Comments (14)
Nora Grace-Flood photo
Mayoral candidates take on West River encampment's demise.
a) The city responded well in its controversial dismantling of the West River homeless encampment.
b) The city needs to amp up the pressure for greater state and federal funding for rental subsidies.
c) The city needs to convert more publicly-owned property into affordable housing, and promote the same on private land.
d) The city needs to collect better data on how many people are actually experiencing homelessness in New Haven.
e) The city never should have shut down the encampment at all.
That multiple choice set’s worth of perspectives came through as five mayoral candidates hashed through housing policy, and sought to differentiate themselves from the pack, during the first citywide candidate forum this mayoral election season.
Continue reading ‘Debate Q: The Lesson Of Tent City Was ...’
by | Apr 10, 2023 9:23 am | Comments (6)
Nora Grace-Flood photo
The Y2Y temporary shelter site at 924 Grand: Construction to start this summer?
New Youth Continuum CEO Mike Moynihan: “I am totally psyched to get this thing going again."
A years-delayed plan to provide shelter on Grand Avenue for young New Haveners in crisis is moving ahead — with fewer beds, and a new nonprofit director at the helm.
by | Apr 5, 2023 1:33 pm | Comments (18)
Thomas Breen photo
LCI Deputy Mark Stroud, tenant Lakeysha Harrison (back right), and city Asst. Corp Counsel Michael Pinto in court Tuesday.
(Updated) Courtroom sleuths raised, but could not unravel, a housing code mystery:
Did LCI last pass or fail a Vernon Street apartment? And were city-discovered code violations resolved last September, or do they persist to this day?
by | Apr 4, 2023 11:14 am | Comments (19)
Pennrose image
A rendering of the proposed Pennrose development.
(Updated) The Elicker administration has submitted a plan to sell Fair Haven’s long-vacant former Strong School property to a developer for $500,000 — with a 20-year tax break — to create 50 affordable apartments.
by | Apr 4, 2023 9:09 am | Comments (4)
Thomas Breen file photo
Juana Valle, with Salvador Jimenez and family pup Bella: Proud of law change, though she won't personally benefit.
A state judge ruled that the Fair Rent Commission doesn’t have to worry about stepping on the court’s toes when hearing retaliation complaints filed by tenants against landlords suing to evict them.
Continue reading ‘Judge: Fair Rent Can Hear Retaliation Cases’
by | Mar 29, 2023 2:19 pm | Comments (9)
Nora Grace-Flood photo
COMPASS's Nanette Campbell and Lucia Lawlor, in a Continuum of Care-owned shelter on Edgewood Avenue. More crisis beds soon to come at 310 Winthrop (below).
Three megalandlord-owned apartments on Winthrop Avenue will soon become six short-term spots for people unsure where to turn in the midst of an affordable housing and shelter shortage.
by | Mar 29, 2023 8:54 am | Comments (11)
Paul Bass Photo
LCI Executive Director Arlevia Samuel at WNHH FM.
After watching New Haven’s neighborhoods evolve from every perspective, Arlevia Samuel is now in charge of adapting the “livability” quest to a new era.
by | Mar 28, 2023 4:32 pm | Comments (2)
Paul Bass Photo
Candice “Candy” Jones was in her Mama Bear slippers taking her Cavapoo King out for a run around their apartment complex courtyard Tuesday morning while gearing up for a busy day, one that could set her on the path of owning her own apartment complexes.
Continue reading ‘Word On Sherman: Candy Looks Beyond Mandy’
by | Mar 27, 2023 8:57 am | Comments (32)
Thomas Breen file photo
Ocean property manager Wilden Bunting: CT Pests "say they’ve done their best and she shouldn’t have any issues, but she is still complaining about them."
Fair Rent commissioners returned a Fair Haven tenant’s rent to its pre-rodent-infestation value — but nixed a proposed $80 hike — after finding that her megalandlord has tried in good faith to get rid of persistent mice.
That decision hinged on competing visions of how far a landlord needs to go to ensure that a housing unit is safely habitable, especially for tenants who struggle with chronic illnesses.
Continue reading ‘Mice + Asthma − Air Purifier = What Rent?’
by | Mar 24, 2023 6:51 pm | Comments (4)
Nora Grace-Flood photo
COMPASS crew members Nanette Campbell and John Labieniec: Taking calls, building trust.
“Hello, yes, this is Nanette,” a crisis response team worker said as she answered her cell phone, all while rummaging around a blue minivan crammed full of Quaker Chewy granola bars, white undershirts and donated blankets in search of a pen and paper to jot down notes on an incoming emergency call.
Nanette Campbell’s colleague and the van’s driver, John Labieniec, pointed her to a stray blue Bic and passed over a crumpled flier on which to write.
Another day. Another call. Another test for a pilot city program seeking to find a new solution for certain housing, mental health, and substance-use cries for help.
by | Mar 24, 2023 11:09 am | Comments (17)
Nora Grace-Flood photo
Tent City, bulldozed on March 16: It doesn't have to be like this.
(Opinion) Last week the City of New Haven bulldozed an encampment of tents and make-shift structures along the West River called Tent City that was built by people experiencing homelessness.
City residents responded with cheers, harsh condemnation, and everything in between.
While everyone will not agree on what to do about encampments, we can agree that we would prefer to live in a community where people do not feel that long-term camping by the river is their best option.
by | Mar 24, 2023 10:01 am | Comments (10)
Thomas Breen photo
Ashmun/Canal development site: Soon to get city $ infusion?
The Elicker Administration has proposed spending $5 million of federal pandemic-relief aid on helping delayed affordable housing developments get off the ground in Dixwell, West River, and the Ninth Square.
Continue reading ‘$5M Pitched To Cover Housing Finance "Gap"’
by | Mar 23, 2023 2:51 pm | Comments (8)
Thomas Breen photos
Dev Deputy Carlos Eyzaguirre, Mayor Elicker, builder Alex Opuszynski and son Atlas, and Alder Eli Sabin at Thursday's groundbreaking ...
... for 15 new apartments planned for vacant State St. lot.
Shovels in hand and a mound of dark brown dirt underfoot, city officials joined a former nurse-turned-commercial real estate broker-turned-housing developer — along with his hard-hatted toddler son — for a ceremonial groundbreaking for 15 new apartments to be built atop a vacant Upper State Street lot.
Continue reading ‘Ground Broken On 15 New Upper State Apts.’