Our Story
With the support of hundreds of people throughout the county, we have transformed the backyard of the Amistad House of Hospitality into a micro-neighborhood that welcomes unhoused people into a supportive community, and gives them a home.
Click below to watch how this project developed and hear from leaders and homeless neighbors in the backyard.
Bold first steps
For thirty years, the Amistad House of Hospitality has been dedicated to helping New Haven’s poorest residents—providing refuge, sustenance, companionship and housing support at 203 Rosette Street, which is also the home of Mark and Luz Colville. (Luz and Mark are longtime neighborhood activists who were honored as New Haven’s Persons of the Year in 2019.)
The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the housing crisis in the city of New Haven. Rents soared as wages were cut, jobs were downsized, and medical bills became untenable. For people and families (yes, families) who had no where to turn, they left the safety of their homes and joined others who were surviving by living in tents on the street. While this was far from an ideal living situation for anyone living there, encampments can be communities where people live together and help one another. During the height of the pandemic, the city let them be. Unfortunately, starting in late 2022, the city began clearing tent cities and forcibly removing people from their tent homes, even though the city had no housing to offer them. Belongings were destroyed, communities were scattered, and people died.
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In response to this crisis, Amistad opened its backyard as a refuge where unhoused people were welcomed to tent, free from the fear of eviction and harassment. The response was overwhelming and transformational. Most people experiencing homelessness are desperately trying to get out of it, and Amistad was providing a start. The backyard residents began to form a community, but continued to lack dignity and safety.
Inspiring a team
Moved by the suffering that homelessness causes and inspired by the possibility of what Amistad was doing, a group of community members (mental health professionals, faith leaders, writers, scholars, business leaders, people experiencing homelessness, and students) along with the Benincasa Catholic Worker, unitedto elevate the living standard of the backyard residents, calling the micro-neighborhood in the backyard the “Rosette Neighborhood Village” (Amistad House is located on Rosette Street).
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They hoped to build 6 tiny homes for 8 people to live in before 2024. (Read more about the tiny homes, here.)
Structures where unhoused residents used to live
The Amistad backyard—aerial view of the Rosette Neighborhood Village before the small homes were built.
Transforming lives
When people are welcomed into the backyard, they are given a little piece of land. They are knitted into a community. And, when people who have been experiencing homelessness—people who have been ignored, ridiculed, and cast aside—are given a home and position of belonging, they become neighbors. Our backyard residents are actively becoming members of the larger New Haven community. This is part of the pledge that all 15 residents make when they join the Rosette Neighborhood Village.
“I was injured on the job, couldn’t work. My life took a downward spiral. And other places, even when they help, they just send you back out to go fend for yourself.... This place saved my life.”
~Joel
“I’ve never seen people doing things for one another like this. I’ve never seen people go this far for homeless people.”
~Jason—making breakfast for the community
Transforming the neighborhood
A fundamental aspect of living in the Rosette Neighborhood Village is giving back to the community. A wonderful example of this is the community garden that is located next to the Amistad House. For years, this garden has been neglected, untended, and forgotten. This growing season, residents have been busy revitalizing the community garden.
Our struggle
The City of New Haven doesn't want us to exist
• When we put up the small homes in the back yard, they told us to tear them down (sent a cease and desist order)
• After months of pleading with the city to let us help the poor, once the state of CT agreed that this village is a good thing for New Haven residents, the city agreed to a 6 month zoning approval so our residents could get through the winter.
• On July 18th, during a blistering heat wave, the city turned off the electricity (A/C) and the Rosette community was served with an eviction notice!
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Why? We help the community and we pay our bills, but ... there's no law that allows for private citizens to open their back yard to neighbors in need. The city says we're not following the rules, and the rules are there to help people....
What? We are providing a safe place for people who have NO PLACE to go. They want to force vulnerable people on to the street. There are not enough rooms, beds, or services in New Haven. There is no where. In fact, other social services institutions that are at capacity send people to us. We are volunteer-built and community-run. The Rosette Neighborhood Village is privately funded through small donations. We don't cost a single cent in taxes. By taking people off the street we are, in fact, saving the city money.
But that doesn't matter. Because our society teaches us that unhoused people are disgusting and that they're homeless through some fault of their own. Inequality is a condition that our society collectively creates, while the powerful in city hall blame the powerless for being poor. Our veterans with PTSD, laborers driven to poverty by the pandemic, and those bankrupted by medical bills. The city is saying that these people's health and well-being does not matter. They'd rather throw people who have a home out into chaos then simply leave us alone.... The city doesn't want us to exist.
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We serve meals to the community every day. We've invited our municipal leaders to please come and meet us, see who we are, eat with us. Instead, they sent us threats.
Rosette residents read their joint press statement on 7/16, detailing the difference living here has made for them.
What it's like to be homeless
“Cast aside. Told you can’t sleep on a bench. Being told you have too much stuff, you have to go. They don’t want you around. They don’t want you visible. You are supposed to be invisible all the time. And if you’re visible, you’re a criminal. And if you’re a criminal, you go to jail.” ~Rico
