Homelessness is the unfortunate end result of a series of systemic failures, an intractable problem with no easy solutions. One approach that is doomed to fail is forced evacuation, which the New Haven Police Department did to an encampment around New Haven’s West River in August.
This injustice was compounded Aug. 24 by an external supervisor onsite with the New Haven Department of Parks and Trees instructing Yale first-year students to throw away clothing and tents belonging to the people previously living there. The students were participating in a community service program run by Dwight Hall, “FOCUS on New Haven,” as part of a “Camp Yale” orientation program.
One of the authors — Shawn — spent 10 years living on the streets of Los Angeles and believes this was a missed opportunity. Rather than “cleaning up after the cops” — as FOCUS program directors described it — students could have engaged directly with those living at the encampment to triage their needs and help connect them to appropriate services.
It is impossible to overstate the positive impact kind words and genuine concern can have on someone struggling to survive. “I never felt more alone and isolated in life,” Shawn says of those years. “I sat in a pool of failure. Being homeless takes coping skills you just don’t have. It’s very hard to resocialize when you need to put up a whole lot of walls to protect yourself.”
Some good has already come from this debacle. In addition to immediately canceling further collaboration with that site, FOCUS program leaders have created a list of resources to benefit people living at the West River. The Dwight Hall staff helped students reflect on their experience.
By directly engaging with homeless people, students would not only lift the spirits and conditions of those people, but of themselves. Such interactions could help shift students’ perspectives from sympathy — feeling for others — to empathy — feeling with others. This is an opportunity that should never be missed.
Shawn Pleasants, TD ’89
Paul Mange Johansen, ES ’88