Closing up, Tuesday morning: "We built power in our movement."
Paul Bass Photos
A tent encampment on the Green grew overnight — and then disbanded of its own accord Tuesday morning, with the group’s organizers heralding the outing as a success for drawing attention to the plight of homelessness.
Members of the Unhoused Activists Community Team (U‑ACT) packed up those tents Tuesday morning, bringing to a close an overnight protest against past clearings of homeless encampments, and in support of the rights of the unhoused.
The protest began Monday evening and took place on a grassy patch of the Green between the flagpole and Church Street.
The night was peaceful, with little to no interruptions. At 8:15 a.m., U‑ACT organizers and volunteers served breakfast to the tenters.
According to one of the protest’s lead organizers, Billy Bromage, the encampment at its peak over the night grew from 12 to around 21 tents.
By 10:30 a.m., a majority of the encampment had been taken down, with extra tents given to campers and stoppers-by. Around two tents remained by around 10:45.
“We need help, so we stayed [over night],” said Enestaly Cruz, one of the overnight protest’s campers.
Cruz said he became homeless nine months ago, when he was hospitalized and couldn’t pay the bill or the rent. His wife also has ongoing health issues with blood clotting complications. But for a night, the two were happy to join the community formed on the Green.
“It was a huge success,” Bromage said. “We built power in our movement. An incredible amount of relationships were formed … we built a tiny village for one night.”
Towards the end of the teardown process, city police Lt. Brendan Borer and members of the city’s COMPASS non-cop crisis response team arrived at the scene. Borer had heard of the encampment this morning. He said he had no intentions of directly interfering with the tenters.
The night was cold according to a tenter named Johnny. He noted that it’s often loud at night, especially on Saturdays when the “guys go to the club.” But last night was “finally quiet.”
“I’m probably off to Columbus [House] to take a shower now,” he said.
On Tuesday morning, Mayor Justin Elicker responded to U‑ACT’s critiques by emphasizing his administration’s previous and ongoing efforts to combat homelessness, including by creating the non-cop crisis response team COMPASS and converting the former Days Inn hotel on Foxon Boulevard into a non-congregate homeless shelter.
He also restated that public space rules prohibit the establishment of permanent structures on the Green.
“When you compare New Haven to any other [city in the] state, we are doing more” to address homelessness, he said.
Paul Bass Photo
Jabez Choi Photo
A few tents remain after encampment's end, at around 11.