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.
While it is easy to feel overwhelmed and helpless in the face of this issue, there is hope – and it lies with Columbus House and the many other organizations that make up the Homeless Response System across the state.
Connecticut’s Homeless Response System has a proven track record of success in addressing homelessness. In 2016, our state was one of only two that achieved “functional zero” on veteran homelessness, meaning that we had effectively housed all homeless veterans in our state and can quickly identify and house those who become homeless in the future. This effort required political will, significant funding and a tremendous amount of coordination, collaboration, and innovation by the VA and the network of nonprofits supporting veterans experiencing homelessness. This was a significant achievement, and it demonstrates that solutions to homelessness are possible.
Despite this success, our state’s Homeless Response System has been dealt a blow. The state has cut one third of our funding since 2015, leaving us struggling to do this essential work. This is devastating to our organizations, to the individuals and families who rely on these services, and for communities across the state that long for the end of encampments.
If you want to see real solutions to the encampments of people experiencing homelessness in our community, we need you to support the Homeless Response System. We are experts in this field and have a wealth of knowledge and experience that can be harnessed to tackle this issue.
In the case of Tent City, we were able to offer a bed in the shelter for the last people forced out. A few took us up on the offer. We will continue to support those who came to the shelter — and those who chose not to — with case management to help them achieve their goals including permanent housing.
But we will need to do much more to recreate the web of health, financial, spiritual, and housing services available to veterans before people stop creating new encampments in our community. We are ready and eager to do the work. We need you to invest in the solutions.
Support HB 6554, a bill to allocate $50 million to Rescue the Homeless Response System. This legislation would provide critical funding to organizations like Columbus House, enabling us to continue working to support people experiencing homelessness and to prevent others from becoming homeless in the first place.
Encampments of hundreds and even thousands of people in California, Washington, Arizona, Washington DC and Massachusetts offer a clear warning of what is to come if we continue to turn a blind eye to this issue. Encampments are a visible and disturbing symptom of the larger and more complex crisis of housing instability, and it is up to us to act.
By supporting HB 6554 and allocating $50 million to Rescue the Homeless Response, we can achieve the kind of success we have had for veterans and move towards the end of homelessness in our state.
Margaret Middleton is the CEO of the homelessness services nonprofit Columbus House, Inc. and the co-chair of the Greater New Haven Regional Alliance to End Homelessness.