New Haven Independent

Posted by: robn | October 19, 2007 8:52 AM

Downtown its been evident that there are lots of new faces on the street...it seems by the same factor of 4 described in this article. Can NHI inform its readers if the city tracks the origin of the homeless in New Haven? There is plenty of idle speculation that this population comes from outside and that New Haven bears the burden for the whole county, but is this actually true? If so, do we get some form of compensation from the state so that, aside from these very charitable homeless advocates, surrounding towns pay their share?

Posted by: Edward Mattison | October 19, 2007 11:48 AM

The city requires the shelter operators to ask people where they come from. We pretty steadily get responses of 25-30% are originally from out of town, but quite of few of them have lived here for a while before going to a shelter. Most of them are from the surrounding towns, but some are from all over. The state used to pay $14 a day for each shelter resident, but capped that many years ago, so each shelter only gets state payments for the number of people it had back then. This is really disgraceful, because the state has mostly abandoned the homeless. Ed

Posted by: zulu143 | October 19, 2007 12:08 PM

in addition to ROBN's questions, I would like to hear from the experts (like Ed and Pete)who work with the homeless daily what their opinion is on panhandlers -give or not give?

Posted by: alison | October 19, 2007 12:28 PM

always a difficult question...to give or not. Here's help from Street Sheet, published by the Town Green District: "...the reality in New Haven: no one it turned away or denied ...shelter if he or she can't pay. Many shelters do ask for $3 nightly fee, but those who can't pay have the option to do a shelter chore in lieu of the fee. So trust your instince. It's your choice to decide where your financial support will make the biggest difference. It's ok not to give spare change to a panhandler, and you'll do more good for more people by donating instead to a worthy agency."
alison

Posted by: robn | October 19, 2007 1:19 PM

Thanks for the info Ed,

You're right...the state's abandoment of the homeless is, in plain words, disgraceful.

A quick look at our budget shows that the city will spend $2M for the Community Services Administration, which manages shelters. Not a lot in terms of the whole budget, but the surrounding towns have a responsibility to help with it and not exploit the fact that our city has a heart.

Posted by: Esbe | October 19, 2007 9:51 PM

The surrounding suburban towns dump their homeless in New Haven, arguing that New Haven has services that they don't. They sure don't: they make sure of that. And then in the State Legislature they oppose funding for the homeless -- after all, they don't have that problem, do they?

I don't give money directly to the homeless, because I think that begging really hurts downtown businesses, and who knows if a buck on the street is going for food, booze or crack. But every year around now I write a big check to one of the local food banks, hoping that lost souls and homeless families will find food there when they need it. CT is a rich state, and the State should be doing much more.

Posted by: Andrew | October 20, 2007 9:36 AM

As for the question, to give or not to give, there is a strong soup kitchen program hosted by the various churches and community centers throughout downtown New Haven. One person I know gives out a list and schedule of the kitchens to pan handlers. Really, no one ought go hungry in New Haven.

And as for the over flows. Many of the homeless are struggling to shake addictions to alcohol, cocaine, and heroin, and enrolled in out patient rehab programs. Several of the overflows are notorious for drug use and traffic, even among staff members (who often are recently homeless and in recovery). So, many are loathe to sleep at the shelters.