New Haven Independent

Posted by: facChek | March 14, 2008 5:09 PM

The primary issue here is non-New Haven based prisoners released into New Haven for care. This issue must be settled.

The underlining issue is that the city of New Haven appears to be presenting a diametrically opposing position with regard to homeless shelters used as quarters for prisoners released into New Haven from all over the state.

This issue should also be discussed.

New Haven, unlike it's surrounding towns, annually performs a systematic count of the homeless and uses those numbers as support for requesting even more money in grant and aid from the State and Federal governments. The city community Services agency then takes 60% of the funds to administer the money to the local non-profits. (AKA- Columbus house, community baptist homeless shelters).

It is through these grants that New Haven has built, and continues to grow/fund the shelters.

New Haven's zeal to seek funds for this activity is juxtaposed by the city's complaint that the state "Dumps" Homeless and prisoners into shelters in which the state subsidizes.

It is this juxtaposition that makes New Haven's complaint seem self serving.

Posted by: GET IT RIGHT | March 14, 2008 5:52 PM

I hope to God you are not a fact checker in real life. Your "FACTS" don't match the real truth, which is that city taxpayers fund the city's homeless shelters to the tune of $1.6 million. That was in last Sunday's New Haven Register. After you read the Register, maybe you can head over to City Hall to get a copy of the budget and learn about how the homeless shelters are funded. That would make you a real FACT CHECKER.

Posted by: True New Havener | March 15, 2008 1:46 PM

Um Facchek --

That is the most incomprehensible comment ever -- which is a hard standard to meet since your recent arrival on NHI has set a high bar.

Here are the facts:

The people of New Haven provide for homeless shelters because over the years New Haveners have advocated for the homeless not to live on the streets. This advocacy has led to more beds and more money spent than anywhere else in the state.

The number of beds needed has increased substantially recently.

Homeless advocates all over the state count people in the shelters and on the streets on the same day each year to ensure there is no double counting (someone in a Bridgeport shelter is not counted sleeping on a park bench in New Haven a week later).

New Haven's shelters are paid for almost entirely by New Haven residents via their property taxes.

The state kicks in a small amount of money for family shelters (where mothers can live with their children). The state provides nothing for single men who make up the majority of New Haven's shelter based homeless population.

Governor Rell now acknowledges she was wrong -- following an excellent set of articles by the NH Register which exposed her error -- that indeed the state Department of Corrections dumps released prisoners at New Haven shelters whether they ever lived here or not.

So please get a new moniker -- you are providing neither facts nor checks.

Posted by: facChek | March 16, 2008 3:09 PM

Get it wrong &
False New Havener

Sorry your incorrect.

You Both have made references to the budget without apparently reading the document yourselves.

Shame on you..

Please reference Pg.236 Special Funds
MCkinney- Hud Homeles CTR.
Columbus House 07/08 budget$75,494K
Columbus House 08/09 proposed $92,000K

Page 238
Community Development Block Grant.
Columbus House- 07/08 $11,500

Page 239
community Development Block Grant
Interfaith Refugee Mini- 07/08 $$10,000K
08/09 proposed= $ 10,000K

General Fund Budget

Community Service Administration Pg. 63
-0- (zero) funding for Homelessness

Sorry~~~~~~~~~~~~~~!

Posted by: True New Havener | March 17, 2008 1:18 AM

Fact Disembowler:

The City of New Haven pays for the shelters out of its General Fund -- I don't carry a budget around with me -- I can only wonder why you do. So you will get no page numbers from me.

General Fund is money from city taxpayers. Now you have some Community Development Block Grants that your copious investigation uncovered. Well my google tells me that's federal money. And those grants total what?? If I trust you, they look like somewhere less than $100,000.

Brilliant. So New Haven pays something like a million and a half dollars for homeless services and you determine that it's all a big lie. There are no shelters, there are no beds, Columbus House is a myth and the only money being paid is by the federal government.

Please stop. You are making absurd comments in the middle of a serious conversation which this city needs to go through with the state. Whatever vendetta you have against the homeless or the city or whoever -- you are passing new levels of absurdity.

New Haven needs the state to start paying serious attention to:

1. the regional costs of homelessness borne by the taxpayers of New Haven.
2. the lack of re-entry plans for thousands of prisoners returning to New Haven and other cities almost ensuring crime and recidivism.
3. the now revealed problem that the state department of corrections has been dumping prisoners for years in New Haven who have never lived here -- relying on New Haven taxpayers to cover the costs of released prisoners and our neighborhoods to carry the potential for them to commit crimes again (since there are no state services for them).

Whatever other nonsense you continue to drone on about is completely irrelevant to these three matters central to the vitality of our city.

Posted by: facChek | March 17, 2008 11:27 AM

True New Havener:

Gee, you get up very early in the AM just to respond to a post. Dedicated HUH?

However, my post are the facts and your response is your opinion.

None of your opinions go to the fundamental issue in the story above, which reads "The mayor's complaints that the state "dumps" prisoners from all over Connecticut onto New Haven streets without doing enough to help the city deal with the impact"

My post is repeated below.

"New Haven's zeal to seek funds for this activity is juxtaposed by the city's complaint that the state "Dumps" Homeless and prisoners into shelters in which the state subsidizes".

"It is this juxtaposition that makes New Haven's complaint seem self serving".

Go back to bed.