Paul Bass Photo
Sadler, who moved to the encampment after the Daggett shutdown.
City crews and homeless campers cleared 12 tons of trash from a newly discovered encampment Thursday. Officials and outreach workers then set about figuring out what to do with the homeless people who have been living there for years.
The clean-up occurred after the city received complaints from neighbors about all the trash at a wooded area off I‑91, according to New Haven homeless coordinator Velma George.
It turned out that homeless people have been setting up tents in several clearings at the location, and piles upon piles of trash had been piling up. An estimated 15 – 20 people have been recently camped out there. (People present at the site asked that the precise location not be revealed.)
Working with Jesse Hardy, a homeless advocate in town, officials arranged for public works and parks employees to spend hours working alongside the homeless campers to fill bag after bag with trash and then haul it away. By mid-day, parks department heavy equipment operator Don Iannuzzi (pictured) estimated that he had hauled 12 tons of trash with his Volvo payloader. A state Department of Transportation crew helped, too.
“This is a beautiful thing,” Hardy (pictured) said of the way government swept in to help. “It was a mess back there.”
George also arranged for nurses and outreach workers from Columbus House, Liberty Community Services and Marrakesh as well as the city’s anti-blight agency, the Livable City Initiative, to come to the scene to help them.
George (pictured) encouraged the campers to go to emergency shelters for now. Her focus is on getting them more permanent housing, medical care and employment assistance, she said. “This is a big step for us. A lot of the people here were not connected to services before.”
George said the city doesn’t want the campers remaining at the site because it presents a danger to public health and safety.
Ross Lawson, who is 25 and said he has lived at the encampment for two years, said he has stayed at the emergency shelter at Grand Avenue but decided not to go back, because of the bedbugs and the general way it is run. He called the facility “a joke.”
Lawson said he grew up in Greenwich, landed in a sober house in Meriden, then got kicked out. He drifted to New Haven. He said he was “really happy that people came here” Thursday “to help us out and treat us like human beings.” His goal is to eventually find housing and finish college. He said he has three years toward a communication degree and hopes to become a journalist.
Dave Sadler, too, welcomed the help in clearing trash. He said he has tried for more than a year to clear some of the trash while living in the encampment. Food waste, in particular, attracted raccoons and other animals that tore apart trash bags, he said.
Sadler said he previously lived in an artist studio in the old Daggett Street Square complex in the Hill until authorities shut it down in March 2015 because of dangerous conditions and code violations. He lives on social security disability and can’t afford an apartment without a roommate, he said — and his disability makes it hard for him to find a roommate. “I’m dysfunctional. I’m not good at socializing,” he said.
Asked how he kept warm in the winter at the encampment, Sadler said he set up a “hot box” in his tent: He put three candles under a concrete block. He lit the candles, which heated the block, which in turn heated the tent.
“I was all for getting this crap out,” he said, as he helped lug debris from the area.
I personally was hesitant to complain about the encampment because they are really out of the way and not bothering anyone. And some people just can't do shelters for what ever reason. But the trash was spilling over. Also some of the residents are our highway exit panhandlers and they also frequent the dealer on state street in the alley next to the package store. So there are also a few addicts in the group. I am glad to see some help was offered to them. Even if one person is saved this is a win!