New Haven shelter closing early

New Haven, Conn. (WTNH) - When the doors are locked at New Haven's overflow shelter Tuesday morning they won't reopen until the fall, two weeks sooner than scheduled.

"They're prematurely closing down the overflow shelter," said Michael Mauzy. Most nights you'll find Mauzy in one of the beds at the shelter in the basement of the South Central Rehabilitation Center on Cedar Street.

Monday night will be his last night there, and it has nothing to do with mild weather. It has to do with money, which has run out.

"A lot of people don't know what they're going to do, where they're going to go, and it's a situation that could become volatile as far as criminally or anything because people are going to become desperate," he said.

And when people become desperate "people commit crimes against other people," Mauzy said. "A lot of robberies happen. I talked to other people that are hanging around here at night -- they said it's dangerous."

Alison Cunningham of Columbus House , who oversees the city's shelter programs, said this year the economy has really put them in a tough spot. Because of it the need for these shelters is up. But also because of it government funding is down and so is their ability to go out and get private donations.

Cunningham says closing the overflow shelter is a symptom of a bigger problem when it comes to services for the growing homeless popultation. And it's the hardest thing they have to do.

You don't have to tell Michael Mauzy how hard it's going to be. "I probably have more (options) than some. But a lot of people don't have any."