Opinion: Homelessness Transcends Urban / Suburban Divide

The following opinion essay was submitted by Colleen Shaddox, a member of the Rosette Village Collective and the author of ​“Broke in America: Seeing, Understanding, and Ending US Poverty.” A response from Mayor Justin Elicker appears at the end of this article.

People sleeping in the tiny homes at Rosette Neighborhood Village (RNV) will not have heat tonight because the city is not providing a piece of paperwork that will allow United Illuminating to turn on the power. Whatever shade New Haven Mayor Justin Elicker is throwing on RNV’s supporters is an attempt to distract from this outrageous truth.

But, okay, I’ll play. Last week I, an East Haddam resident, organized a brunch at North Branford’s Zion Episcopal Church for RNV, with the amazing support of volunteers from many places, including New Haven. When the Indy covered the story the headline was ​“Suburban Fundraisers Sing for Hill’s Tiny Homes.” Earlier we’d had a fundraising brunch in Guilford. The headline on that story was ​“City Housing Plight Brought to the ​‘Burbs.” I sense a theme, and so did Mayor Elicker who went on a rant about how much more the suburbs should be doing to address homelessness – as if this somehow justified his not turning on the heat at RNV. It does not.

I agree, however, that cities carry a disproportionate load in funding many social services. Furthermore, suburban zoning is exclusionary along racial and economic lines. I’ve written about that, been involved in organizations working to change that and supported advocates and candidates dedicated to zoning reform. I know that many of the folks attending those brunches could say the same. I also serve on the board of an organization in my hometown that helps people who cannot afford their basic needs, because I understand the downward cycle of want that can lead to eviction. In fact, I co-wrote a book with my pal and former New Havener Joanne Samuel Goldblum about the reality of poverty in this country and the obligation of all people with privilege to address it.

Being able to walk and chew gum at the same time, I also work on issues outside my little town. In fact, I have an obligation to do so – because the splitting of this state into tiny municipalities only fuels inequality. In New Haven at the Amistad Catholic Worker, friends of mine were starting up an innovative way to address homelessness as a human rights issue, a project that became RNV. I’m not bragging on myself. I am just illustrating that not everyone who lives outside the city is a NIMBY jerk. Certainly the good people who hosted brunches are far from that – and I was genuinely touched by the welcome they gave us.

Because I grew up in restaurants and don’t stress out about feeding a crowd, I offered to do fundraisers for RNV at any organization that wants to host us. So far we have gotten invitations from Guilford and North Branford churches. We’ve got one pending in another suburb for the new year. If a New Haven church had invited us, believe me I would be there with my chafing dishes in a New York minute.

See how long this essay has gone on without mentioning the eight tiny house residents whose heat is still off in late November because Mayor Elicker is mad at us? By us, I mean the RNV Collective, the volunteer group that’s supporting this project. We decided, rather than deal with regulations written a hundred years ago before tiny houses existed, that we’d just build them in the backyard of Amistad Catholic Worker, which was already offering people space to tent, meals and much more. We did that, as our friends at the Unhoused Activists Community Team say, because the emergency is tonight. It would have taken us years and more money in legal fees than the cost of the units themselves to get permission. Again the emergency is tonight. Our state government has declared homelessness a public health crisis, which would give the city the leeway to bless what’s going on at RNV.

I wish the Elicker administration would seize that power and turn on the damned heat rather than playing into the intramural resentment Connecticut’s 169 fiefdoms seem to relish. If you want to punish the RNV Collective, make up protest songs about us. I will stand there while you sing. I will wear an unflattering outfit. You can throw a pie at me if you want. But don’t freeze out a bunch of people who haven’t broken any rules – except the unspoken one: Thou shalt not be poor in America.

Response From Mayor Justin Elicker

It’s unfortunate that the city’s position on the Rosette Street tiny homes project continues to be misrepresented.

As I have said time and time again, we share the same goal: to serve and support the unhoused – and New Haven is doing more than any other municipality in Connecticut to support individuals experiencing homelessness. This month alone, we’re opening two new facilities: a new 56-room non-congregate shelter on Foxon Boulevard in Quinnipiac Meadows and a new 47-space warming center on Orchard Street in the Hill.

We’re also trying to work with those involved in the Rosette Neighborhood Village initiative to try to find a pathway to potentially make this project legal. The cause is a worthy one and one the city shares – and I’m always eager to explore creative and innovative solutions to providing more affordable and emergency housing to our residents.

At the same time, we also have an obligation to ensure that our residential housing is safe and structurally sound. And, contrary to what has been suggested, I, nor anyone working for the City of New Haven, can unilaterally ​“turn the power on” for these tiny homes.

No resident can construct anything they want, anyway they want, anywhere they want – and the same is true of the owners and residents of 203 Rosette Street. These tiny homes, as currently designed and constructed, are in violation of the state building code, which outlines the minimum standards for residential properties to be deemed safe and habitable. This includes safe electrical wiring, appropriate fire separation between housing units and property lines, working plumbing, secure foundations, and the ability to withstand snow and wind loads, among other requirements. These tiny homes do not meet these minimum safety standards and the city’s building department cannot in good conscience sign off on them and say that they do – nor, for that matter, would state building officials accept it. In fact, tragically in other cities, there have been multiple fires in the types of Pallet home structures being used on Rosette Street.

To come into building code compliance, these structures must meet the state’s minimum safety standards for tiny homes – which are, in fact, included in the state building code. Other tiny homes in our city meet these standards and we want to build more of them. These six tiny homes on Rosette Street currently do not, which is why the city issued a cease-and-desist notice.

We remain committed to continuing to work in partnership with the individuals involved in the Rosette Street project to try to find a pathway to bring these tiny homes into compliance – but having an honest dialogue is an essential first step. Willfully mispresenting the facts or the city’s position, as has been done time and again by some associated with the project, is wrong and unproductive.

Finally, people whose own communities have demonstrated little to no commitment to building more affordable housing or welcoming the homeless into their own towns getting on their soapboxes and lecturing the rest of us and the City of New Haven should spend time looking in the mirror. The author of this opinion piece is from East Haddam. According to a recent state report, East Haddam has 2.7% affordable housing, North Branford has 2.2%, and Guilford has 2.3% while New Haven has 33.4% with hundreds more units in the pipeline. This is a statewide problem and it requires every municipality to step up and do its part. We’ve got more work to do, but New Haven is proudly leading the way.