Thomas Breen photo
Zoners taking testimony on plan.
A plan to change a small Hill homeless shelter into a rent-subsidized residence for young people who have aged out of the foster care system is meeting with opposition from neighbors worried about parking and crime problems.
That opposition surfaced at a Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA) public hearing at 200 Orange St. on Tuesday night on New Reach Inc.’s request to convert its Careway Shelter at 223 Portsea St. in the Hill’s Trowbridge Square area into a more conventional affordable housing residence for previously homeless and at-risk young women.
New Reach came up with the new plan two years after losing city funding and embarking on an effort to rethink how to house people who are, have been, or at risk of becoming homeless.
Currently, Careway Shelter acts as an emergency shelter for homeless women and children, providing 10 apartments that each has a capacity for one adult woman and three or four children. Careway Shelter is one of three shelters that New Reach operates, along with Life Haven and Martha’s Place.
Representatives from New Reach were at the BZA on Tuesday requesting a density variance that would allow the organization to repurpose the building from being a shelter (or “rooming house”) to a dwelling unit. They want to maintain the 10 units, where a maximum of five are permitted according to zoning regulations.
They also want a special exception to allow zero on-site parking spaces instead of the 10 that would normally be required at such a residence.
Although the number of rooms would stay the same, the maximum number of people who could live in those units would decrease from 22 to 15 under such a repurposing.
“We are moving from a non-conforming shelter use in the RM‑2 zone to a conforming multi-family use,” said New Reach lawyer Lisa Feinberg during the public hearing, citing both the BZA’s 2003 approval of the building for shelter use as well the general principle that supports whenever a building moves from not conforming to conforming with an area’s zoning requirements.
“We’re moving away from a non-conformity, which the state Supreme Court has ruled is independent grounds for the granting of a variance.”
Hill Alder Dolores Colon and former State Rep. Bill Dyson spoke in favor of the change, praising New Reach’s responsible management of the current building and citing the importance of adding more housing in this city for at-risk youth.
“We have a lack of facilities for young people coming out of the foster care programs in our city,” said Colon. “These young people who are 18 years old and have spent their lives in foster care don’t always have the wisdom and the wherewithal to go out and get an apartment. I think we have to show some compassion to these young people, and say that they can live with other people in the neighborhood.”
Three women came to the public hearing on Tuesday night to voice their opposition to New Reach changing the existing shelter into rent-subsidized apartments. Their concerns ranged from the loss of services that support the homeless to a fear of increased crime to a frustration over a lack of available street parking.
Hatley.
One of the women who spoke was Angela Hatley, who grew up in the neighborhood and whose 86-year-old mother currently lives a block away from the building in question.
“We are against the repurposing,” Hatley said. “We’d rather have the nonconforming mission that they have now with the good work that they do than to have them conform to a building that is not beneficial to the neighborhood. This densely residential neighborhood is so close to Yale that it’s considered a Yale parking lot, and parking is already at a premium for the people who live and pay taxes there. Adding no additional parking spots to a building that should have 10 will just exacerbate this issue.”
“We also don’t want to add any more commotion to the neighborhood,” she continued. “The neighborhood needs a respite. We just got the Columbus House to move, which proved to be a sanctuary for people who sit in the park all day, watch everyone coming and going, and then break into neighbors’ homes. We need a respite.”
Day.
In response, New Reach Executive Director Kellyann Day noted the difficulties of working with a significantly smaller budget from the city, but also reaffirmed New Reach’s commitment to helping New Haven’s most vulnerable populations.
“I’ve been with the organization for 22 years,” Day said. “And I can assure you that we are an organization that is absolutely, 100-percent mission focused and committed to helping people who are homeless get housed. Since the city of New Haven cut its funding for the Careway shelter two years ago, we have relied on private dollars and department money to continue to operate the building. But we own the building outright. It’s not mortgaged. And so we as an organization need to figure out how to repurpose the building so that it fits into our mission and also fits into the neighborhood.”
The BZA closed the public hearing on the variance use request and referred the parking-related request to the City Plan commission, promising to vote on the issue at next month’s meeting.
Three people at a public hearing does not an opposition make. Had this reporter been at the neighborhood management team meeting held last month and attended by over 50 people, where New Reach presented with a request for neighborhood support, you would have heard opposition from only 3 people. They do not represent the Hill. Unfortunately, too often we are met with individuals who seem to have a NIMBY attitude about anything new in their neighborhood ... even if it's an improvement. New Reach is proposing to turn from 'non-conforming' use to 'conforming; to provide more permanent housing as opposed to a homeless shelter for transients; reduce the occupancy number from 22 to 15. And these young people more than likely will NOT own a car, they can barely pay rent (which is why the units would be rent subsidized) so parking would not be an issue. What, pray tell, is wrong with their proposal? Providing housing for 'aged-out' young adults who are trying to get on their feet is a good thing... unless it is in your back yard. Ms. Hatley said 'we just got the Columbus House to move' ... the Columbus House is a homeless shelter! So would you want New Reach to continue to operate a homeless shelter or provide a permanent housing opportunity for a young adult who just might on day grow up to be someone's 86 year old mother? And where would you propose these 'aged-out' young adults to go ... Columbus House? We need to stop being so fearful that young people will bring crime to our neighborhoods. We need to stop being so selfish to think that we don't have young people from the Hill that have gone to foster care and who now having become adults NEED HOUSING. Many in the Hill support this project ... we just didn't expect these THREE to go to the BZA and oppose it. New Reach has not been met with opposition in the Hill, it was met at the BZA by three people who only represent themselves, not the Hill.