It is out of date. Lists rent less than $1000 for single person. That is virtually nonexistent

I guess they use HUD fair market rent calculations.

I don’t know if you are aware that you are leaving the impression Cornell Scott supported bulldozing the camp

True about people needing to be involved, but if you view the public hearings on this, a lot of people are involved, and they know a lot, they don’t just gnash their teeth, they approach the city with ideas. The city responds to those ideas by utterly ignoring them and going in with a bulldozer, so I guess it takes even more people, and discovering more levers to pull. I guess you have to get the chamber of commerce on board

I don’t know what it is about getting elected in New haven but the minute you do, you become a rock on the bottom of a stream with no eyes, ears, heart, etc

I agree completely but we need to adopt Housing First policies also.

I was thinking about some possibilities.

If they could rely on police and not have to hide from police, they could enforce camp rules and prevent assaults. When someone tries to break into your house, you can call police, but this is denied to them, then we complain there is an assault!

And if your partner works with them, and you turn around and say Elicker had no choice, well, what are you saying? So is Cornell Scott recommending these camps be bulldozed? If so, Shame on them and their parochialism and short sightedness.

In the story link you sent me, the nurse even recommends they stay out of the shelters to avoid Covid, but bulldoze the camp? Is that nurse you? Your partner?

I’m not at all comfortable with your position. It’s absolutely punishing to support closing the camp

You’ve been presuming a lot about me, that I don’t vote, that I have no experience living in difficult neighborhoods. Why don’t you stop it

I understand why someone would want a festering problem to go away. I have felt that way myself but shouting that out publicly means that’s the part of the views I hold that I want heard the most and what should shape public policy. That’s the last thing I’d do, because I think it makes terrible public policy and solves nothing. I remind myself these are human beings we are talking about. And for every wandering person who seems dangerous or maybe has been violent there are 10 who are just trying to get out of poverty

You realize everyone living in the encampment is now scattered around new haven’s neighborhoods really at a loss and way more likely to appear in your life now than before. You realize they are 10 times needier when their possessions are destroyed, and the city has done this multiple times over the years, thus increasing new haven’s burden. He’s pushed them back to the New Haven Green and other neighborhoods

They should have donated a couple Porto potties to the site and left it in place until a solution could be found but the city is lacking in imagination and any guts..

I don’t know why Elicker was in such a panic over an allegedly “ permanent fixture” he thought they were building ( a shower? I don’t know) it’s not like that gives them any new legal status he has to worry about.

Towns have been pressured to do more and many of them are trying to catch up to state law minimums for affordable housing now, finally, but bottom line, most gravitate to new haven anyway because it’s compact and loaded with public transportation

You say the encampment is causing so many problems, then talk about desperate people causing problems on “your doorstep”, well, bulldozing the camp put desperate people on doorsteps and sidewalks and the Green etc. The camp was solving a problem better than that

And the Mill River encampment in 2016 is not the West River encampment in 2023

Ok, duly noted

So what. It’s contiguous and people often mistake it for Edgewood

If you don’t understand it, you don’t. Go live in one and see how long you can keep it together at work. If you don’t know and continue to push your belligerent opinion, all you’re saying is you couldn’t care less, so why bother? Don’t you have better things to do ?

We get it. You are repulsed and hateful and don’t care. We’ll mail you a medal 🏅

Yeah, that’s right because they’re partying and living the good life while you work for a living. Give me a break

He’s the darling of the East Rockers

The activists are asking for the same thing you’re proposing so I don’t know why you have to set yourself up as an opponent

That doesn’t justify bulldozing this encampment.

What site? In the mill river? That article is about the Mill River in 2016. That’s not this site. What do you mean you volunteer there? What do you do? How could a volunteer be competent with homeless people if he wants to destroy their property and not offer permanent housing? Quite a “volunteer”

That story is from 2016. I don’t know what your point is

First of all, it’s just a blatant lie that all homeless are drug addicted or mentally disabled, period, and those who are need housing not asylums. When asylums closed it was for good reason but they closed them without opening the housing and support services that were supposed to replace them.

Your comment is insensitive and ill informed. My generation grew up with the horrors of the asylums on the cover of news magazines every week until we finally shut them down. And you want to reverse a whole generation’s efforts because Ronald Reagan fucked it up by refusing to put the supports in place.

And push you out the door early - it is a rattling horrible experience that makes it hard to function, get work or keep work and dig out if it

West River Memorial Park? It’s all continuous anyway, with Edgewood Park

Although I agree on better mental health services, there are stereotypes that all homelessness is caused by mental illness which isn’t the case. No one wants to admit economics can drive you to the street — that violates all the “American Dream” narratives and that’s not allowed. In any case, housing first. Mentally ill or not, the immediate need is housing. Some of the people in tent city have full time jobs. In interviews you can see how articulate and capable they are

Baseboard electric is way more expensive than electric heat pumps

If you’re paying for oil deliveries compare the price to Forbes Fuel or one of the other companies that are known to be cheaper. I don’t know how your landlord can make you use Standard. Landlord probably contracts with them for furnace servicing but too bad

Also look into Eversource weatherization program. I’ve never used it but I hear renters can use it and it might be free. I hear they can add insulation and seal things up. It’s part of a state mandated program

More immediate effect would be that real estate in these places would skyrocket due to being within quick commuting distance to Boston and NY