STAMFORD, CONN. – A growing pile of garbage near the Stamford train station in Connecticut is raising concerns among commuters and local authorities.

What we know:

Metro North riders have noticed the unsightly accumulation of trash, including mattresses, couches and clothing, just north of the station.

The Connecticut Department of Transportation (DOT) told FOX 5 NY‘s Richard Giacovas that it is aware of the situation, suggesting it reflects someone’s living conditions rather than illegal dumping.

Efforts to address the issue

According to the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection, state law imposes a $219 fine for dumping items larger than one cubic foot. 

Additionally, vehicles used for dumping can be confiscated, and offenders may face arrest. The state can also sue for cleanup costs, with fines reaching up to $25,000 a day.

The city of Stamford’s highways department actively tackles illegal dumping and offers legal disposal options, such as the Katrina Mygatt Recycling Center and the Scale House, where residents can dispose of up to 200 pounds of material daily for free.

What they’re saying:

A spokesperson for the Connecticut DOT said that local and state agencies are collaborating to relocate individuals found living at the site and to provide essential services.

Plans are underway to outsource the cleanup to a third party, especially if hazardous materials like needles are present, the DOT said. 

As winter fast approaches, in the wake of Connecticut’s most recent housing bill passing into legislation, it is clear that we are ignoring one of our most vulnerable populations: unsheltered homeless individuals.

Housing First is the only approach proven to significantly reduce the number of people living on the streets, and it is actually more cost-effective than leaving people outside.

Research shows that supportive housing dramatically lowers hospitalizations, emergency room use, psychiatric crises, and shelter stays, which creates net savings for taxpayers. It is the humane approach and the financially responsible one.

With the exception of promising a pilot program for portable showers and laundry services, Connecticut’s new housing bill (HB 8002) offers nothing to the 500+ people sleeping outside tonight. These are people who cannot wait for zoning reforms, planning committees, or long-term market shifts.

HB 8002 may reshape how development occurs and create a savings account for middle-class home-buyers, but none of its provisions will bring unsheltered homelessness down and help people trapped in a vicious cycle of trauma. Only Housing First could do that.

I know this not just from policy research, but also from seeing it affect the lives of people I love.

I was grateful to meet a woman in recovery who shared with me her incredible story. She told me about how she once lived unsheltered for over a year. While on the streets, she became a victim of human trafficking, was sexually assaulted by a group of men, and fell deeply into addiction and psychosis, which layered trauma on top of already existing complex post-traumatic stress disorder and schizoaffective disorder.

This wasn’t the result of laziness on her part. She was set up for failure from childhood after being abused by her family, and later faced more abuse in romantic relationships. She bounced around from one unsafe situation to another, without the tools to get help or help herself.