Issue #5 Feb 2024
Stories from people who are and have been homeless in New Britain and around Connecticut. Edited and published by Dare to Struggle CT. Distributed by Homeless Liberation Initiative
“Now I don’t know where I’m gonna go … There’s just a lot here that’s not helping me.”
She was lied to and kicked out… Twice.
One woman we met and interviewed in January described how, shortly after getting into the Friendship Center’s dorms at 241 Arch St, she was lied to by staff and kicked out. She got permission from a staff member to leave for the night, with the promise to keep her apartment.
However, she said that when she got back to the apartment, “they took that back like it never happened.” Staff handed her discharge papers, claiming she violated attendance/vacancy rules with no conversation or chance to explain herself. After this treatment, she said it was clear that the Friendship Center treats residents as if they are “nothing… just trash”
She then got into the emergency shelter, where she was told incorrect rules by staff, required to disclose her work schedule, and ultimately kicked out again, losing her spot at the emergency shelter as well.
“I work my whole life but I’m in survivor mode”
“There’s just a lot here that’s not helping me,” she said, referring to her lack of access to services in New Britain. “I take care of three households, I work, I’ve been at my job for three and a half years, I’ve been working since I was 13. I’m a CNA, I went to college, I graduated high school. […] I’ve been staying in the locker room at my job. […] I don’t even get Food Stamps – they said ‘you make too much money.’”
“They got money for wars but can’t feed the poors.”
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