Except when it is exceptionally cold, Tyler White sleeps in this car down by the shore. Almost every inch, except for the reclining driver’s seat on which he sleeps in a sleeping bag, is filled with his clothes, food, books and, on this day, a set of oars.
And Roger Chandanais says that, whether town officials like it or not, the welcome mat there remains out for 85-year-old Tyler White as soon as Mr. White is sprung from the hospital and whenever Westport weather is too cold for sleeping outdoors in a car.
Town officials don’t like it. A garage is no place to shelter a homeless person says Building Inspector Ralph Souza.
“I’ve told Roger that and he doesn’t want to hear it,” Mr. Souza said. “He is making a lot out of nothing. I’m not bringing him to court or anything (but) if we find out that he (Mr. White) is back living there I might have to do something.”
Mr. Chandanais, who is also 85, has taken his defiance public. Last week he attached a sign to his pickup truck that read, in part, “Town of Westport will not allow Tyler White, a sick 85 year old homeless man to sleep in my heated garage on cold nights … Where is the humanity?”
“I parked at Lees and people came up and said ‘Good for you.’ Lots of people in town know Tyler and want him to be safe and comfortable in this bad weather … He likes the freedom out there, is afraid of being sent to a home but sometimes it’s just too cold.”
The living arrangements came under town scrutiny recently when Mr. White took ill during an overnight stay in the Chandanais garage. Mr. Chandanais called for rescue and the Westport Fire Department took Mr. White to St. Anne’s Hospital. Thursday he was moved to Bedford Village Nursing for rehabilitation.
After the rescue, the Fire Department notified the building inspector about this garage-turned-homeless shelter.
A car for a home
Mr. Chandanais said he has known Mr. White for a long time.
“He has been sleeping in his car on Gooseberry and East Beach for the last 15 or 20 years and everybody knows him. The police check in on him sometimes to make sure he’s okay.”
On nice days, he likes to sit down by the shore and read.
But Mr. Chandanais said he worried about Mr. White being out there in his car when it gets too cold.
So two or three years ago he told Mr. White about his garage and gave him a key.
“Now when it gets really cold he pulls his car into a corner of the garage, turns up the thermostat and makes himself comfortable.”
Mr. Chandanais said he isn’t the only one who looks out for Mr. White.
“Grum’s (Family Restaurant on Charlotte White Road) feeds him breakfast a lot, no charge — sometimes other customers pick up his tab, and Theresa Botelho next door brings him soup and good food when he is here … And there are others.”
Mr. White is quiet, “likes to keep to himself — I don’t really know much about his past but that’s fine. I don’t ask.”
But on Super Bowl Sunday, Mr. Chandanais said he asked if his visitor would like to join him to watch the game.
Mr. White took him up on the offer.
“We were just sitting there watching and eating ice cream … at the end, when the Patriots made that big play, he was so excited he was stomping his feet. I never saw him get into anything like that.”
Mr. Chandanais said that, even though they didn’t talk all that much, he enjoys the company. He, too, has been through a difficult spell — within this past year or so his beloved wife died and then his house burned. He’s living in an RV on the property until house repairs can be figured out.
His garage has provided shelter to people down on their luck off and on for years, Mr. Chandanais said —“and I’m sure it will happen again.”
Once a couple in a van stopped in at his metal working and truck repair shop and told him they needed a tire.
“He had lost his job and they were living in the van … We put a tire on for him and my wife brought his wife into the house, set her up with some warm food and some country western-type clothes … they stayed for a couple days. Later he got a job in Connecticut — every Christmas they send a card.”
Shelter showdown
He makes the garage available, Mr. Chandanais said, because the town has done nothing.
“I told the building inspector, if you can get a place for him, fine. If not, when he comes out of the hospital he’s coming back here. The town knows about him, they won’t help.”
Mr. Souza said that once he was made aware that a garage was being used as a shelter, he had to step in.
“Living in a garage is not a good situation. There are things in a garage that can be hazardous.” If Mr. Chandanais’ “house hadn’t burned he (Mr. White) could stay in there with him “but not in a garage.” It is not a legal or safe dwelling.
“I told him (Mr. Chandanais) that there are other options to explore. They could call the Council on Aging” to learn about available help and a place to stay. That’s a much better way than having him sleep in a car in a garage.”
Julie Shanahan, an outreach worker at Westport Council on Aging, said that, while they seldom encounter homelessness inquiries in Westport, they would do what they could to find help.
“His wishes, certainly, would be a first priority,” Ms. Shanahan said. There are shelters in Fall River and New Bedford, but some of these are quite need specific — meant, for instance, to help people with alcohol or drug issues, veterans … “First, we would want to learn more about him and what he wants and needs. Then we could make phone calls and see what could be done.” She added that it is good to hear “that people in our community have been acting on their own to see to it that he is safe and warm.”
“If my grandfather were still alive, I wouldn’t want to see him living in a garage, the building inspector said. He (Mr. Chandanais) just wants to turn this into a fight.”
He’s not looking for a fight, Mr. Chandanais replied, but isn’t about to back off.
Mr. White likes his independence, he said, “likes being by the ocean and doesn’t want to get sent somewhere. He just needs some help when things get hard. And I’m going to help him.”
This is not the first time that Mr. Chandanais has created a stir in town.
Bothered by what he calls town inaction over a rat problem in his neighborhood, he took to hanging rat carcasses from a driveway pole and posting “Rat Crossing” signs (there were two rats dangling there last week).
The owner of Roger’s Welding and Truck and Trailer Repair Service — Mr. Chandanais has sculpted fanciful creatures and objects from metal scrap over the years, many of which have been featured in town parades. A specialty is rolling barbecues — one favorite looks like an old steam engine.
Perhaps his most noteworthy construction was Little Newt, a 28-foot salvage vessel that he crafted in the 1990s from large steel tanks. The one-time military diver used Little Newt to salvage a 16,000 pound bronze propeller from a World War II era cargo ship hat he discovered while diving near Cuttyhunk.
Also out back is the Texas style dance hall that he built for his late wife Regina, a talented dancer and founder of the Texas Style Country Dancers of Westport.
