People experiencing homelessness in Connecticut are not a protected class in the way people are protected from discrimination based on religion, race or sexual orientation, among other groups.
But, state lawmakers and housing advocates say making homelessness a protected class may be integral to fighting an uptick in attacks against Connecticut’s homeless population.
A series of attacks and harassment of a homeless encampment in Milford, followed by a violent assault against an unhoused resident in Bridgeport, brought lawmakers and housing advocates together to discuss ways to change the state’s attitude and treatment of the unhoused.
The victims’ housing status is intrinsically linked to their victimization, according to Jennifer Paradis, executive director of the Beth-El Center in Milford, the city’s main homeless shelter.
“This is what love looks like: finding policies that work for the folks who are living outdoors and bring them safety and security immediately and in the future through policies that ensure housing is a protected class,” Paradis said.
One of the crimes against the Milford encampment involved spraypainting swastikas onto nearby trees, a move Paradis said Milford police are escalating to a hate crime.
However, the charges that will be raised against the other attackers in Milford are unclear as homelessness is not a protected class.
“Applying a hate crime charge to somebody requires us to see the person who the hate crime was targeted for as a vulnerable class,” Paradis said. “In terms of law at this point in time, because of the federal administration, the rollbacks of protections related to people experiencing homelessness, we don't have those grounds anymore.”
Milford police confirmed they’ve identified several suspects.
Bridgeport police also have a person of interest in the attack on a 22-year-old man who remains in critical condition after his head was beaten with a rock while he slept on a park bench in B.J. Brown Park, according to Police Chief Roderick Porter.
Experts say the rise in attacks against homeless people isn’t unique to Connecticut, according to attorney Sadia Rahman, with the National Homelessness Law Center.
Similar attacks have taken place around the country, including five murdered unhoused residents in Lansing, Mich., suggesting a potential serial killer targeting the homeless community, according to Rahman.
“It's part of a broader wave of violence targeting people experiencing homelessness across this country,” Rahman said. “This year alone, we've seen reports of dozens of assaults against homeless people, from Oklahoma City to Binghamton, New York, to Omaha, Nebraska, and beyond.”
Both changing national rhetoric and the rolling back of policies and funding for programs that help unhoused residents find shelter and offer protections are the root cause, Rahman said.
“Trump and his allies have treated homeless people as criminals because they can’t afford the rent, called for our neighbors to be forcibly removed from city streets and cheered on proposals to create government-run homeless detention camps,” Rahman said.
State lawmakers were noncommittal on what specific policies may be proposed in the next legislative session to bolster safety for the unhoused, but suggested Connecticut does, and should continue to, operate differently than Washington, D.C.
State lawmakers also said the state needs to focus on solving the root cause of homelessness as a long-term preventative for these types of attacks.
