Guest View: Understanding Homelessness in Norwalk
By 
Michael Mushak
Unknown to most Norwalk residents and officials, there are numerous tent settlements of homeless that have sprung up in the densely wooded areas around town, on both state and city property. Most are along highway ramps, and in wooded areas including until recently at Mill Hill almost across the street from City Hall (a volunteer maintenance crew cleaned this one up, at least for now). These camps lack basic sanitary facilities, and are surrounded with piles of trash and of human waste. Also, as petty crime increases around town, it is apparent that a hidden culture of homeless only increases the difficulty of police to locate perpetrators. That said, most of the homeless are not criminals, but simply people who have run out of options, been forced out of their homes by lack of work to pay the rent, landlord foreclosures, untreated addictions, and mental illness, and who are often turned away at the overcrowded existing shelter.
Some residents and even a public official have stated publicly in recent months that homelessness is not a problem in Norwalk, and that there was no reasonfor the city to allow expansion of the existing inadequate and overcrowded emergency shelter in South Norwalk. The expansion was not approved, and its future is now in limbo.
These photos are from last week, at 3 different locations, and as more leaves fall you will likely see many more of these camps appear through the branches around town. As the weather turns cold, it will be a crisis for many of these folks who will have nowhere to go, and whose needs for counseling, treatment, or basic food and shelter will not be met by the current system.
