One Stop Pop-Up Service Hubs For Unhoused In New Haven Adds Barbers

NEW HAVEN, CT – This summer, barbers began volunteering their services at the city's “One Stop Pop-Up” service hubs, which provide vital mobile services to New Haven’s unsheltered population.

The Homeless Navigation Hub Continuum was created in July 2021 by the Office of Housing and Homelessness, part of the Department of Community Resilience, to address the needs of unhoused residents in response to exacerbating conditions due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The hubs were created to connect people in crisis with meals, showers, laundry, health and wellness care, housing, transportation, employment, and educational opportunities. The hubs, located throughout the city, provide coverage seven days a week.

The One Stop Pop-Up, launched in April, provides a weekly mobile option. It operates in the summer months, and services three areas where there is a high concentration of unhoused individuals.

In July, a group of barbers began volunteering their grooming expertise, offering a new service for visitors. Since the launch, over 500 visits have been accommodated through the mobile pop-ups.

Weekly One-Stop Pop-Up schedule and locations:

• Tuesdays, 8 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., New Haven Green (includes barber services).
• Fridays, 9 a.m. to noon, Fair Haven Library, 182 Grand Ave.
• Saturdays, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., Oasis Hills S.D.A. Church, 189 Union Ave.

The One Stop Pop-Up is a collaboration between the City of New Haven Office of Housing and Homelessness, the Yale Community Health Care Van, Cornell Scott Hill Health Center – Street Medicine Team, Liberty Community Services, Power in a Shower, and Oasis Seventh Day Adventist Church. This initiative is funded by a combination of federal, state, and local funds. The program runs through late September.