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According to Anwar, people experiencing homelessness — many of whom he claimed were forced into the city because their own towns “chose not to see them” — had their tents and belongings taken by the City of Hartford, “presumably under the direction of the mayor.”

He described the clearing of an encampment as an act of theft and cruelty, likened it to an abuse of power against the powerless, and faulted nearly everyone in state government along the way: surrounding towns, Hartford officials, the governor, and the commissioner of housing.

The post was heavy on emotion and light on specifics. A tent, Anwar insisted, was “never a lifestyle.” In his telling, it was shelter, dignity, and the thin line between life and death.

Hartford, he argued, had already been unfairly “carrying the burden” of other municipalities, and now had failed too. The governor was accused of “waiting and seeing” while advocates had supposedly warned of disaster for months or even years.

He even called out Hartford Mayor Arunan Arulampalam, “Dear Arunan, I have called you, and still call you, my brother,” he wrote. “Today, my brother, you broke my heart.”

The message was clear: everyone else was heartless, and Anwar was the conscience in the room.

The suffering was real; the outrage was manufactured.

The post had all the elements of a Hollywood drama — villains, tears, and even a war photographer to stage a routine municipal decision in dramatic black-and-white. What it lacked was anything resembling leadership: no solution, no policy proposal, and no acknowledgment of the reality facing the people actually tasked with managing homelessness on the ground.

And then came the response Anwar didn’t see coming.

Mayor Arulampalam’s wife — who says she almost never comments publicly — broke her silence to say what many were thinking: using unhoused people to boost a political career is exploitative.

She pointed out that real people are doing real work behind the scenes — connecting individuals to shelters, services, and care. That churches, including hers, are on the front lines. And that it’s far easier to issue sweeping condemnations on social media than to manage a crisis involving addiction, mental illness, limited housing, public safety, and finite resources.

The reaction was telling.

Instead of backlash, her comment drew support. One person called Anwar’s post another PR stunt. Another noted the familiar pattern — viral outrage, blame games, zero results. Others asked the most inconvenient question in politics: Where’s the plan?

And when the comments shifted from applause to basic, practical questions — “What can we do to help?” — Anwar went silent. He did not engage. He did not offer direction. He did not respond at all, including to the mayor’s wife, who directly challenged the premise of his post.

Anwar insisted that “for weeks and months” he and his colleagues had urged state officials to act, and that advocates had sounded clear warnings. But like the rest of the post, the claim was short on details — no bills, no proposals, no public action to point to. The audience was asked to take his word for it.

The post wasn’t written to solve a problem. It was written for likes. Tents were elevated into symbols of dignity. Clearing them became “robbery.” The truth he avoided is simpler: tents are a sign of failure, not compassion.

Because once you admit tents aren’t acceptable, you’re forced to explain why they still exist.

Real compassion means real help — treatment, housing, and stability. Elevating tents as “dignity” isn’t kindness. It’s failure delivered with a moral lecture.

So let’s ask the question Anwar’s post carefully avoided.

What has he actually done?

Not what he has posted. Not who he has blamed. What policies has he delivered that measurably reduced homelessness or substance abuse in the towns he represents (Ellington, East Windsor, East Hartford, South Windsor)? Where are the outcomes? The reductions? The programs that worked?

If Hartford is “carrying the burden” of other towns, which systems did Anwar build in his own backyard to prevent people from ending up there?

Silence.

Because moral outrage is cheap. Governance is not. That’s why Anwar’s post landed so poorly.

If Senator Anwar wants to lead on homelessness, there’s an easy place to start: stop sharing other people’s suffering on social media and start accounting for your own record.

Show results. Name successes. Admit failures. Do the unglamorous work. Resist the urge to turn every tragedy into a campaign ad.

Because incompetence wrapped in compassion is still incompetence.

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