Heat Goes On At Tiny Shelters In The Hill

The heat’s turned on inside six tiny emergency shelters outside Amistad House.

That happened after the city’s building inspector and fire marshal visited the site Saturday morning and signed off on electrical work done in the nonprofit’s backyard in order to deliver heat that same day to residents seeking refuge in the backyard homeless encampment. 

That means Amistad House has officially earned a certificate of occupancy for temporary structures. That protects the shelters for 180 days, after which point the housing organizers will have to find a new way to bring the structures into permanent zoning and building code compliance despite their atypical design and use. (Read more about an initial failed effort by the crew to do that here.)

Amistad House will also go before the Board of Zoning Appeals on Jan. 30 to seek zoning relief for the structures.

Read on for an earlier version of this story about how Amistad House pressured city officials into electrifying the shelters this winter, despite the fact that they have yet to earn zoning approvals for the site.

City, Amistad House Strike Plan To Heat Shelters

The city has reached a tentative agreement with Amistad House to turn on the heat in six backyard shelters as soon as Saturday — after representatives and residents of that ever-developing homeless encampment marched to the mayor’s office in demand of electricity ​“tonight.”

That’s the latest news in the ongoing saga involving Hill housing activists and the Elicker administration concerning whether or not the city will allow and electrify those prefabricated shelters in the Hill. The shelters were installed without local or state permits in an effort to offer emergency protection for those without housing.

Read in more detail here about that initiative, which is taking place behind the nonprofit Amistad House at 203 Rosette St.

Residents of the encampment dug trenches last weekend to house electric lines that will deliver heat to each of those six tiny homes. But they need a signature from the city — which has spent the past month working with the state to figure out pathways to legalize the atypical structures — in order to close their electrical permit and get United Illuminating to turn on the power. 

City officials said they had been waiting on the state’s approval of a management plan drafted by the local and state building inspectors before they could turn on the heat. Mayor Justin Elicker said the state finished reviewing that document on Thursday. Once Amistad House reports compliance with those standards, he said, the building inspector and fire marshal can and will inspect the property and sign off on the electrical permit and certificate of occupancy for the temporary structures.

The state building inspector’s office did respond to requests for comment.

Amistad House is also required to submit an application to the Board of Zoning Appeals requesting zoning relief, which will be heard at a special meeting scheduled specifically for Amistad House on Jan. 30. Elicker said the city will allow Amistad to turn the power on prior to actually attaining that zoning relief.

The ten rules finally written by the city require Amistad leadership to remove snow from the shelters’ roofs within six hours; evacuate residents if winds rise above 100 miles per hour; verify the wind load capacities from the shelters’ manufacturers; provide an evacuation plan; establish lighting for egresses; determine exit egresses within the shelters that can be opened without a key; equip each shelter with a fire extinguisher and interconnected wireless smoke detectors; give every resident of 203 Rosette St. keys to Amistad House; ensure that Amistad House maintains a common bathroom and sanitation facilities for residents; and submit to a walk-through inspection of the property prior to the city’s closing of their certificate of occupancy for temporary structures. 

Organizer Sean Gargamelli-McCreight said Friday that Amistad House is already in compliance with all of those regulations and intends to submit that application by end of day Friday. Building Inspector Bob Dillon, in turn, said he could inspect the property Saturday morning and potentially sign off the same day, so long as the fire marshal is also available. 

That resolution followed an hour-plus public back-and-forth Friday between Rosette Street residents and city officials.

On Friday morning, those living at and helping to build the backyard ​“village” of tents and tiny roofs marched into City Hall and into the mayor’s office — as city spokesperson Len Speiller held the door open for them — to demand that the city give them an immediate go-ahead to get the heat on.

Once inside, the protesters were met by Mayor Elicker, Building Inspector Bob Dillon, City Plan Director Laura Brown, and economic development officials Mike Piscitelli and Carlos Eyzaguirre.

“This is a crisis that’s been created by the administration,” organizer Gargamelli-McCreight said repeatedly of New Haven’s homelessness issue, ​“both through the bulldozing of encampments and the road blocking of neighborhood efforts like this one.” 

City officials shook their heads at claims that they had ​“roadblocked” the shelters. 

“We don’t work with magic wands,” Piscitelli stated, as residents and organizers interrupted city officials to criticize what they described as intentional stalling around project approvals and to blame the leaders for creating and perpetuating a ​“humanitarian crisis.” 

“Normally we would not entertain a project like this when it was built without permits. We’ve been working really hard on this,” Piscitelli said. 

Once calm was achieved, Piscitelli distributed the city’s management plan, explaining that the state had only approved the document one day earlier. The two sides talked through next steps and agreed on a plan of action.

Towards the end of the heated conversation, Elicker addressed Gargamelli-McCreight and company.

“Our team has met with you multiple times to make this work and you haven’t acknowledged this,” he said, asking for affirmation that the crew ​“feel that this is a collaborative effort.”

After a pause, Gargamelli-McCreight responded: ​“I guess I can say we appreciate you doing your job.”