Power in a Shower, the mobile van providing free showers to people without access to a stable bathroom, has temporarily paused services in New Haven due to a switch in funding sources. Since March 2022, the mobile shower van visited a variety of locations throughout the city each week, open to a nyone in need of a shower on a first-come, first-serve basis. The public showers operated under a multi-year city contract that expired on June 30. That contract was primarily funded by federal pandemic aid from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) that will expire at the end of the year. Now that the city contract has ended, the state Department of Housing (DOH) is planning to fund Power in a Shower going forward. According to DOH spokesperson Maribel La Luz, the state is now ironing out the details of the contract and is not yet certain about when the program will start up again. “We don’t have an ETA yet but it’s in process,” she wrote in an email. In a statement, Mayor Justin Elicker wrote, “We look forward to Power in a Shower resuming its services in the near future, and we appreciate the state’s partnership in continuing to provide this additional resource.” He pointed to the “navigation hubs” or drop-in centers operated by organizations Liberty Community Services, Fellowship Place, and DESK as sites where people can use showers in the meantime. (A chart compiled by United Way lists a variety of Navigation Hubs, including shower providers, in the New Haven area.) Another $30,000 in ARPA funding for a resource navigator from Liberty Community Services stationed at the Ives Library Branch has also ended, according to city spokesperson Lenny Speiller. “With these funds now sunset, library staff are now utilizing [the crisis response team] Elm City COMPASS to provide assistance to individuals and also referring folks to the Community Services Administration, Navigation Hubs and community partners,” Speiller wrote. In a separate statement, Elicker added, “ARPA funding allowed us to try some new things, supplement existing services, and support individuals through a very difficult time.” He wrote that some programs will continue on with new funding sources while others were “only temporary” due to the funding structure. Still, “what remains constant is our commitment to doing everything we can to support individuals experiencing homelessness,” he wrote. According to Power in a Shower’s founder, Walter Harris, about 40 people showered in the van on the last day of June, the program’s last day of operation in New Haven. Bo Lone Eagle, who lives in a tent on the front steps of First Summerfield United Methodist Church at 425 College St., estimated that “90 percent of unhoused people in New Haven” used Power in a Shower to stay clean. Lone Eagle said he typically showers at Fellowship Place, an Elm Street organization that operates a drop-in center. For Lone Eagle, who said he has been homeless since October 2024, Power in a Shower served as a backup option that he used on days when his arthritis made it difficult to walk long distances. “I’ve been to Power in a Shower many times,” he said, primarily when the shower visited the Green. One of the shower stalls. Prior to the end of June, Power in a Shower was available on Thursday mornings at Varick Memorial Church, Friday mornings at the 180 Center, and both Tuesday mornings and Thursday afternoons on the New Haven Green. Starting in July, however, the shower van has stopped showing up. “We are waiting to hear back from the state” about continuing the program, said Harris, Power in a Shower’s founder. “There’s not much that we know about. Only that we are waiting until the process is done and then we will be able to resume the services.” While the details of the new contract are still being determined, Harris said he believes that the state intends to expand the program to other cities and extend the months of operation beyond the pre-existing timeline of April to September. According to La Luz, the state is currently budgeting $215,000 for the program through the end of the current fiscal year. The city contract, meanwhile, committed up to $150,000 for the program during the prior fiscal year, according to city spokesperson Lenny Speiller. Harris said that since Power in a Shower first started coming to New Haven, the cost of operations has skyrocketed. The price of gas has spiked. The cost of insurance and storage has increased. A bundle of 200 towels used to cost $40; now, it costs $140, according to Harris. Harris said that he had poured some of his own money into the program in order to keep it going. He said he is optimistic that a new state contract will account for a more up-to-date cost of operations. Even with financial challenges, “there’s a lot, a lot of positives that kept us going,” said Harris. “We see the transformation” in people who are able to shower. “Our commitment to dignity for the folks that we serve is of the utmost importance,” he said. “The politicians, they’re not gonna understand, comprehend, how great of a tool it is to be able to clean your body,” Lone Eagle said. “They got one-and-a-half-plus bathrooms in their house. We call our tents our house for now. We don’t have no bathroom or showers attached to our tent.” “I love taking showers first thing in the morning,” said Lone Eagle. “A lot of times, I’ll take one just before I go to bed, too, just to rinse the day off. It’s so relaxing. For mental health, it’s a necessity.” He added that “some people in the public” stereotype homeless people as “dirty bums.” “If that’s the case, then let us wash ourselves!” he said. Carl Ferris, who like Lone Eagle is an activist with the Unhoused Activists Community Team (U-ACT), said that people have come up to him on the Green in recent weeks to ask about the absence of the showers. He has pointed them to the drop-in centers that do offer showers, he said. Still, those showers only have so much capacity. At DESK, for example, there is one shower available for use in the afternoons for four days per week. Since the shower has to be thoroughly disinfected in between uses, DESK can usually accommodate 4 to 6 people showering per day, with strict time limits, according to Executive Director Steve Werlin. “We always max out,” said Werlin. Werlin said he found out about the absence of Power in a Shower from a community outreach worker at DESK. “This is a huge hit,” he said. “The way our drop-in center operates, it operates as part of a system. We really do rely on everybody across the system.” To Ferris, Power in a Shower was a “band aid” to a deeper problem. It definitely made an impact, Ferris said — it was better than nothing. But Ferris would like to see a permanent bathroom with a shower on the Green, available in the winter as well as in the summer. The post Mobile Showers Paused As Funding Shifts appeared first on New Haven Independent. ...read more read less