Housing

Mandy's "Market" Rent Hike Slashed

by | Jan 22, 2025 2:44 pm | Comments (4)

Zoom photos

McClune and Schwan: $300 more is too much; Chen: That's the market.

Is Mandy Management raising the rent to align with market rates, or does the megalandlord practically set the market rates? 

That question was asked at a Fair Rent Commission hearing on Tuesday evening, at which Lenox Street tenants Douglas Schwan and Natalie McClune succeeded in getting a monthly rent increase knocked down from $300 to $100.

Continue reading ‘Mandy's "Market" Rent Hike Slashed’

The Heat's Back On. Mostly

by | Jan 17, 2025 3:28 pm | Comments (8)

Laura Glesby Photo

Mandy Management tenants Noela, Mlebinge, and Jacqueline in the Clarion hotel lobby on Wednesday, waiting to go home.

After a two-night stay in a Hamden hotel, a family of nine Congolese refugees moved back to their Dickerman Street apartment on Friday morning — where, for the first time this winter, the heat came on.

Continue reading ‘The Heat's Back On. Mostly’

Tent Pops Up In City Hall

by | Jan 16, 2025 9:44 pm | Comments (27)

Laura Glesby photos

U-ACT protester Mell: “Show me the law telling me I cannot walk up those steps!”

Alexis Terry in the tent on City Hall's first floor.

Four dozen people showed up to City Hall on Thursday night to protest a city policy of issuing 72-hour eviction notices upon discovering outdoor encampments — leaving a symbolic tent outside the mayor’s office after a standoff with police.

Continue reading ‘Tent Pops Up In City Hall’

Zoners Douse Edwards Firehouse-Apartment Plan

by | Jan 15, 2025 1:46 pm | Comments (36)

Zachary Groz photo

Alder Caroline Smith: Let's find a compromise.

contributed photo

So long, 15 Edwards relief proposal.

The city’s zoning board unanimously rejected a local landlord’s plan to build 23 apartments atop a vacant former Edwards Street firehouse after a marathon hearing saw skeptical neighbors and pro-housing advocates debate over how much density should be allowed in this stretch of East Rock, and across the city at large.

Continue reading ‘Zoners Douse Edwards Firehouse-Apartment Plan’

Harp Fined For Trash, Missed Inspections

by | Jan 10, 2025 3:19 pm | Comments (18)

Laura Glesby Photo

W. Matthew Harp, right, and his attorney Kirt Westfall.

LCI Photo

The since-cleaned-up backyard of 75 Brewster.

One man’s trash is another man’s tenant’s loose tires, copper pipes, and splintering wooden cart of debris and furniture.

Local landlord W. Matthew Harp floated that idea at a series of back-to-back civil citation hearings involving some of his properties, which saddled him with nearly $20,000 in fines.

Continue reading ‘Harp Fined For Trash, Missed Inspections’

For Now, At Least It's Warm Inside

by | Jan 9, 2025 12:34 pm | Comments (0)

Thomas Breen photos

"Old," leaving the warming center for a bit: "I try not to complain."

David Cox: "This is not where I want to be."

As the temperature outside dipped into the 20s Thursday morning, David Cox sat inside a Dixwell church extended-hour warming center — his legs crossed, bundled up in a coat and scarf and beanie hat, his walker by his side and a window sill lined with Pothos plants behind him. 

He didn’t want to be at that warming center. And he didn’t plan on staying long. But for now, with the weather dangerously cold, it was a safe place to be. 

Continue reading ‘For Now, At Least It's Warm Inside’

One New Havener’s Hunt For A Home Of Her Own

by | Jan 8, 2025 2:50 pm | Comments (4)

Contributed photo

Sherrill Petaway, with uplifting Post-It notes on her scrubs.

Sherrill Petaway has spent years looking for a new home. Since July, she’s been engaged in a boot camp of sorts. One that will bulk up her credit so that she can buy a house — sooner rather than later, she hopes.

The steepest challenge, as her Neighborhood Housing Services of New Haven coach and counselor says, is patience. 

Continue reading ‘One New Havener’s Hunt For A Home Of Her Own’

3rd Warming Center Opens; City Activates Cold Weather Protocol

by | Jan 6, 2025 8:43 pm | Comments (2)

Laura Glesby Photo

Youth Continuum's Tim Maguire (right): Winthrop Ave. warming center open as of Monday night.

As snow fell and the temperature plummeted, a third city warming center opened Monday night for homeless young adults looking for a place to sleep and stay warm during winter nights. 

Meanwhile, two other warming centers will be staying open 24 hours a day until Thursday, as the city has activated its severe cold weather protocol.

Continue reading ‘3rd Warming Center Opens; City Activates Cold Weather Protocol’

Fed Bill Boosts $ For Homeless Vets

by | Jan 2, 2025 1:26 pm | Comments (7)

Thomas Breen photos

David Germaine: Transitional housing "gives you a chance to get back on track."

U.S. Sen. Blumenthal (center): Bill's import isn't "abstruse."

Army Reserve veteran David Germaine took a break from applying for jobs Thursday morning to stand alongside the top Democrat on the Senate Veteran Affairs Committee — at a Hill press conference celebrating a bipartisan funding boost designed to help keep a roof over the heads of homeless vets like Germaine.

Continue reading ‘Fed Bill Boosts $ For Homeless Vets’

Clock Shop Sale Delayed Again

by | Dec 24, 2024 9:00 am | Comments (7)

Paul Bass Photo

Firefighter Dan Kislukonin in August at the scene of the second of two fires in two months at the abandoned clock factory.

Paul Bass File Photos

The housing authority’s planned redevelopment of a dilapidated clock factory on Hamilton Street will have to wait six months — again — in the wake of a court order issued Friday.

Continue reading ‘Clock Shop Sale Delayed Again’

Dinner & A Movie Return To Fair Haven Shelter

by | Dec 23, 2024 4:10 pm | Comments (1)

The Fresh Starts team, including Marcus Harvin, Diamond Harvin, Talia Cardoba, Bradley Woodworth, Axel Woodworth, Adam Rawlings, and Big Don McDaniel.

On a bone-chilling night, Talia Cardoba spooned spicy chicken onto a heaping plate and handed it to an elf who scurried out of the kitchen.

Careful, it’s hot,” she said, as the conversation of 16 mothers and their children floated in from the dining room of Life Haven, a 40-bed Ferry Street facility that provides temporary shelter to homeless pregnant women and women with young children. 

The occasion was the second iteration of Dinner & A Movie” hosted by Best Video and Newhallville’s Fresh Starts, a nonprofit founded on the belief that the first step toward helping someone realize their aspirations is nutritional sustenance.

Continue reading ‘Dinner & A Movie Return To Fair Haven Shelter’

At Long Last, Ex-Coliseum Apartments Open

by | Dec 16, 2024 2:17 pm | Comments (29)

Thomas Breen photos

Mayor Elicker and Spinnaker VP Frank Caico (center) ...

... celebrate new apartments at the "Anthem at Square 10" ...

... as property manager Alves (right) shows off common area "plant wall."

Brian Alves reached back in time to his teenage years attending concerts by Aerosmith and Huey Lewis and the News at the Coliseum — as he gave reporters a tour of the shiny new mixed-use building that has risen from the ex-venue’s ashes, complete with 200 apartments, ground-floor retail space, a pool, a gym, and a common room buttressed by a real life plant wall.”

Continue reading ‘At Long Last, Ex-Coliseum Apartments Open’