For decades, Hartford’s streets have drawn the eye of award-winning photographer Phil Farnsworth. He once documented war zones, but now he’s focused on a different kind of battlefield—homelessness in Connecticut’s capital.
What does this crisis say about the state as a whole? Farnsworth’s lens is searching for answers, one image at a time.
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From “Under the Bridge” to a New Chapter in Hartford
Farnsworth’s connection to Hartford’s unhoused community goes back to 1984. His book “Under the Bridge” first exposed the stark realities of living on the margins.
Now, as homelessness rises in cities from Hartford to New Haven, he’s revisiting those same shadows with a new urgency.
These days, he works closely with state Sen. Saud Anwar. Together, they’re trying to do more than just document—they want to push the conversation from sympathy to action, blending art, advocacy, and policy.
A Long Career Refocused on Home
Farnsworth has spent four decades traveling the world, photographing conflict and humanitarian crises. But he says the hardship in Hartford and in smaller towns like Manchester and East Hartford is just as profound, if not more easily ignored.
His new work zooms in on the faces and stories behind the numbers. He wants to challenge the idea that homelessness is someone else’s problem, somewhere else.
A 10% Spike in Homelessness Across Connecticut
The photographer’s renewed focus comes at a rough time. Recent data shows a 10% increase in homelessness statewide over the past year, with 3,735 people recorded as unhoused in Connecticut.
That number reaches into nearly every corner of the state—from Bridgeport and Waterbury to New Britain and Stamford.
Advocates stress this isn’t just a crisis of numbers. It’s a crisis of vulnerability, with more children, seniors, and people with chronic health issues living without stable housing.
Unsheltered Homelessness Up 45%
The Connecticut Coalition to End Homelessness reports a 45% increase in unsheltered homelessness. More than 800 people sleep outside—in cars, tents, or under highway overpasses in cities like Hartford and New London.
These are often the least visible—and least served—people. Farnsworth seeks them out, finding hidden encampments along riverbanks, behind shopping centers, and under bridges where most residents of West Hartford or Glastonbury would never think to look.
Lives Behind the Lens: Geoff, Jillian, and Kenny
In Farnsworth’s photographs, the statistics become names, histories, and heartbreak. His images and interviews show how quickly a stretch of bad luck can push someone from stability to the streets.
Two people he’s documented—Geoff and Jillian—embody that spiral. Once housed, they lost their home and soon found themselves camping outdoors, where desperation, trauma, and constant uncertainty opened the door to substance use.
From Under the Bridge to a Second Chance
Another subject, Kenny Nelson, spent three years living under a bridge. Support from local outreach workers and community organizations finally helped him find housing.
His story shows that when resources actually align, people do get off the streets—and stay off. For every Kenny, though, many others are still waiting for help that just isn’t coming fast enough.
Fentanyl, Tents, and the Risks No One Sees
In cities like Hartford, New Haven, and Bridgeport, Farnsworth’s photos show the dangerous intersection of homelessness and addiction. Fentanyl, now everywhere in the state’s drug supply, pops up again and again in his work.
Tent encampments might look like a fragile form of safety, but they come with hazards: fires, theft, violence, exposure to the elements, and frequent displacement when camps get cleared out.
More Than Seasonal Charity
Farnsworth is blunt about a pattern he’s seen for years. Concern spikes around the holidays or a cold snap, then fades.
His current project, backed in part by a GoFundMe campaign, tries to keep empathy from being seasonal. Through exhibitions, talks, and social media, he’s pushing residents from Hartford to New London to see the unhoused as neighbors, not nuisances, and to ask what real, long-term support actually looks like.
Policy, 211, and the Push for Real-Time Solutions
Even as state lawmakers tout new legislation to ease Connecticut’s housing shortage, advocates say those measures don’t do enough for people sleeping outside tonight. Sen. Saud Anwar has been especially vocal about the gap between big plans and immediate need.
He points to two critical areas where he thinks the state needs to move faster: shelter capacity and access to emergency assistance.
Strengthening 211 and Expanding Shelter Beds
The state’s 211 helpline is supposed to be a lifeline for people in crisis, connecting them to shelter, food, and services. But Anwar and advocates say the system is understaffed and underfunded.
Too often, callers are left on hold or without timely help. They argue Connecticut must:
A Call to See—and to Act
For Farnsworth, the camera’s just a tool. It’s not the finish line.
He wants folks in Hartford, West Hartford, Manchester, New Britain, and honestly, anywhere nearby, to face what his photos reveal.
Homelessness in Connecticut isn’t just growing—it’s changing, and it’s probably closer than most people want to admit.
Now, his latest work is popping up in galleries, newsrooms, and all over online spaces.
Farnsworth hopes that when people actually see their unhoused neighbors, maybe they’ll stop turning away.
Will it push more of us to ask for real resources and reforms? He sure thinks it could.
Here is the source article for this story: A war photographer is capturing new horrors: CT homelessness. ‘It is complete desperation’
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