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Tiny Home residents persevere through city-issued power outages Words and photos by Christina Lee.

Residents of the Rosette Neighborhood Village Collective’s tiny homes remain steadfast in preserving the community they have built from the ground up, despite the expiration of a 180-day permit and a city-backed power outage.

The Collective erected six tiny homes in the backyard of the Amistad Catholic Worker House, a local nonprofit, to provide housing for 8 to 12 unhoused New Haveners in October 2023. In March of this year, the city’s Board of Zoning Appeals — or BZA — retroactively approved a 180-day permit, under which the city temporarily turned on electricity for the homes in January.

The permit expired on July 15. A day later, the city sent a cease and desist notice, demanding the homes be torn down, and on July 18, the city cut off electricity to the homes. Currently, the 30 residents remain without power.

180 days after receiving their permit, the tiny home structures were designated illegal dwelling units. According to Mayor Justin Elicker, cutting off power is part of the standard procedure for handling illegal dwelling units in violation of state building codes.

“The city holds some liability, and we want to make sure that we're treating every property owner fairly and the same. So, we responded like we do with every property owner, by turning off the power on the site,” Elicker said.

For the residents who continue to reside in the tiny homes, the power outages have posed risks to their health and well-being.

Joel Nieves, who has lived in a Rosette Street tiny home since April, said that the city-backed power outage has endangered his health. Nieves suffers from sleep apnea and needs a CPAP machine — a prescribed medical device used for sleep-related breathing disorders — to breathe properly while asleep. Without power in his tiny home, Nieves’ CPAP machine relies on an extension cord connected to the main Amistad house.

“I'm the only one that has electricity, and as we're running it from the house, it's only so I can run my sleep apnea machine,” said Nieves.

The summer heat has been dangerous for the health of all residents. Though the tiny homes are equipped with air conditioners, they have been unable to operate since the power outage in mid-July.

“I don't even want to leave my dog, you know, because it's so hot,” Suki Godek, the longest tiny home resident, said. “We have rechargeable little fans and stuff that we use, but it's still not adequate… We have air conditioners in each unit that work wonderfully, but you need electricity for that, right?”

Despite the ongoing challenges resulting from the power outage, the Collective has continued to grow. Due to a lack of properly resourced shelters, many unhoused New Haveners turn to the Amistad House.

Aniyah Thompson, tiny home resident, is pictured on the left.

“Someone told me about Rosette Street. They said, ‘Just show up. They’re not going to turn you away,’” Aniyah Thompson, who has been a tiny home resident for a couple of months, said.

Thompson added that he moved to the Collective after being kicked out of Columbus House Inc., another New Haven homeless shelter.

According to Nieves, the Collective has been receiving calls from various shelters across New Haven to take on more residents.

“We have people who are coming from the shelter system here because they have nowhere for them. [The shelters] are calling us, yet [the city] is knocking our power out,” said Nieves. “They're sending us people, yet they're punishing us for what we're trying to accomplish.”

Elicker denied the claim that the city’s shelters have directed unhoused New Haveners to Rosette Street.

Various members of the Collective said they have been proactive in communicating their concerns to the city. According to Nieves, the Collective has been working to get a court injunction to appeal for a permit extension. Godek has also reported picketing outside of the mayor’s office and making calls to alders and Velma George, the city’s homelessness coordinator.

Amid these ongoing efforts to advocate for the tiny homes, however, the residents of Rosette Street have expressed frustration with the mayor’s lack of direct response and engagement with their community.

“What [Elicker] has been doing is making us feel like we're not welcome,” Nieves said. “I'm helping the best way I can, but it seems like the mayor slaps your hand every time you go to help, and it makes it more difficult to help.”

Elicker, however, maintains that the city has long been ready to engage and offer support for the residents, saying that the challenge has been getting the residents of Rosette Street to accept the city’s help.

He pointed to the purchase of a hotel aimed at providing more affordable housing for the unhoused, as well as a plan to open a seventh shelter in the city, when asked about ways in which his administration is planning to combat homelessness in the city.

“We continue to stand ready to help support the people that are at the Rosette Street site, and that offer has existed for more than a year, and it will continue to be there, just like we help other people that are struggling with homelessness in the city as well,” Elicker said. “We can only work with people who are willing to accept help, and we have been repeatedly denied the ability to help people.”

In a statement to the News, Elicker wrote that the city’s Housing and Homeless Services Department “stands ready to connect individuals at the property to alternative temporary housing and assistance.”

The city made a temporary alternative housing offer to Nieves in an attempt to provide said assistance.

Shaunette James-Marquis, the city’s community outreach worker, engaged with Nieves in early August to find an alternative housing option that would satisfy his medical needs. The housing arrangement was organized in partnership with BHcare, a community behavioral health clinic.

“The conversation was going well until our outreach worker Shaunette spoke with one of the leaders at Rosette Street, and then Mr. Nieves changed his mind,” Elicker said. “We were trying to help him.”

Nieves’ application for long-term supportive housing placement was submitted through BHcare on Aug. 14. He was offered housing in Branford, Conn.

Nieves ultimately denied the offer, claiming his doctor instructed him not to leave New Haven, as it would not be ideal for his mental health.

“I have no support system outside of the city,” Nieves said.

The mayor maintained that the housing arrangement presented to Nieves reflected what was available at the time of the offer.

“I have seen with my own eyes our outreach workers engaging with people on site and ready to help,” Elicker said. “So it is entirely false to say that the city has not offered help and not talked with people, and it is offensive.”

Regardless of its tensions with the city, the Collective has created a community they are proud to call home. From serving hot breakfasts prepared by community members to hosting neighborhood block parties, the Collective sustains a life beyond basic necessities for its residents.

Nieves underscored the rehabilitative potential of the community, pointing to the benefits of a safe, sociable space for unhoused New Haveners.

“We're people like anybody else, and given an opportunity to say, ‘Listen, I'm not going to give you a place for you to lay your head. I'm going to give you a place for you to feel safe and feel at home’ — it changes your demeanor. It changes who you are, and you develop again,” he said.

Godek also experienced the transformative power of a restorative community space firsthand.

Since coming to Rosette Street, Godek has pursued homelessness activism through the Unhoused Activists Community Team of New Haven, advocates for food justice through Witnesses to Hunger and recently spoke at a Yale School of Medicine panel about homelessness and substance use disorder. In the future, she hopes to create a self-sufficient farm for unhoused people in recovery.

“It literally gave me a purpose and a place and a home, and that's what I was missing,” Godek said. “Coming here, you build foundations, networks and community. And then we help you build up onto the next step.”

The Amistad Catholic Worker House is located at 203 Rosette St.

Christina Lee can be contacted at christina.lee.sl2844@yale.edu.

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