Connecticut’s senior U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal hosted a press conference today to “sound the alarm” on the U.S. Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) recent decision to shift billions in funding away from permanent housing for homeless people and towards transitional, means-tested housing with stricter requirements.
“This major policy change will have sweeping consequences in promoting homelessness, not reducing it,” said Blumenthal. “The Trump administration is betraying the purpose of homelessness programs in the state of Connecticut and around the country.”
The changes in question were made to HUD’s Continuum of Care (COC) Program, the federal government’s largest grant program for the purpose of homelessness, which disburses billions annually to municipalities and non-profits. As is the case with any grant program, applicants must follow strict guidelines. HUD just changed those guidelines yesterday, making it so that only 30% of the funds used by recipients can be used for the purpose of providing permanent housing, a massive reduction from the previous cap of 90%. Sarah Fox, CEO of the Connecticut Coalition to End Homelessness, said the 30% cap is “fundamentally a 70% cut to our permanent housing resources,” and predicted this change would triple the number of unsheltered homeless people in the state.
“What this 70% cut [sic] will mean fundamentally to us, is that our amount of unsheltered homelessness will triple,” said Fox. “We do not have the resources in this state to deal with the challenge before us today.”
Connecticut received approximately $95 million in COC funding last year. Jennifer Paradis, Executive Director of the Beth-El Center, a service provider based out of Milford, said that COC funding supports, “housing and services for approximately 9,000 residents each year.” Blumenthal estimated that the changes will put 6,100 of these residents back out to the streets. Fox said that she’s seen COC funding provide stable housing to one individual whom, “outreach workers thought he would never come inside,” and said that people who rely on COC funds to provide longterm housing will die under the current change to funding. Maria Coutant Skinner, President and CEO of the McCall Behavioral Heath Center, said that “humane policies” aren’t only morally righteous, but, “most effective in terms of out comes and the least expensive when you look at the price tag of preventing homelessness or keeping somebody stably housed.”
“I’ve been a social worker 35 years, and we know what works; housing first works,” said Skinner. “We know what works; compassionate, humane, effective policies work. So, what got us here? How do we dehumanize the population to the extent that we can be okay with this decision?”
COC fund recipients must renew their grant applications every year. As a result, many service providers will have to drastically reimagine their programs if they wish to continue to receive funding going forward. While adjustment to the COC’s funding priorities marks the most significant change, Blumenthal said additional changes were made bring service providers in line with the Trump administration’s ideological goals as well.
“It has attached conditions to homelessness funding, like draconian immigration policies, DEI requirements and others that make it antithetical to the values that we have here in Connecticut, but more to the point, it will potentially further reduce funding for Connecticut,” said Blumenthal. “So, we have more work to do than ever before in Connecticut, we have a gap to fill in our state that is going to grow as this winter unfolds.”
Blumenthal said the changes “betray” not only the homeless, but veterans, and said they go against the Trump administration’s frequent pro-veteran posturing. Speakers also criticized language in the guidelines that they say would force towns to “criminalize” homelessness if they wish to receive COC funding moving forward.
“CoCs should direct resources towards outreach, intervention, and assistance that helps people regain self-sufficiency,” read the guidelines. “Consistent with Executive Order 14321 “Ending Crime and Disorder on America’s Streets,” CoCs should work with law enforcement, first responders, and their state and local governments to reduce encampments, public camping, and public drug use in order to address barriers to maintaining housing and increasing self-sufficiency.”
Additionally, the new guidelines stipulate that no funding will be provided to providers that also offer harm reduction services, and prioritize funding to service providers that mandate drug treatment. Paradis said that the changes to guidelines have come suddenly, accusing HUD of “trying to bypass the process” of notice and comment typically afforded to providers and the general public prior to significant policy changes, and that these changes will only reduce the number of people that can be afforded care.
“Nothing in the law authorizes HUD to require the criminalization [of homelessness], or treatment compliance as a condition of funding, yet this is what’s being attempted,” said Paradis. “We must prepare to come forward and deploy every dollar necessary to bridge funding, to bridge funding gaps, protect the resources that make our social safety net whole and meet the needs of our communities.”
One recipient of homeless services, who went only by Chris, shared his story of how COC funding helped him turn his life around. He said he received shelter and services from St. Elizabeth’s House, a Hartford shelter ran by Mercy Housing and Shelter, which helped him deal with years of treatment resistant depression, HIV, and the trauma associated with physical and sexual abuse he sustained as a child. Through a presentation provided at St. Elizabeth’s, Chris was made aware of a support specialist position offered by Hartford Healthcare, which he applied for and worked at for two and a half years, but has had to take family medical leave.
“I qualify for SSI, for SNAP, but my current income is less than my rent,” said Chris. “Mercy House stepped in to subsidize my rent based on my income, which is the only reason I’m still housed, safe, fed, healthy, medication compliant, living with dignity, positive about the future and alive here, speaking to you today. I don’t want to think where I would be without their support, and I cannot thank them enough for the kindness and safety and growth and healing I’ve experienced in their care.”
State Reps. Laurie Sweet (D-Hamden) and Eleni Kavros DeGraw (D-Canton), and State Sen. Majority Leader Matt Lesser (D-Middletown) were also present at the conference. Lesser said the changes were “wicked,” Sweet said they’re “devastating,” and Kavros DeGraw said it was indicative of the Trump administration’s, “eugenic way of dealing with the least among us.” Kavros DeGraw said she will continue to lobby for the Governor’s Office to utilize some of the $500 million just released from the Rainy Day Fund to fill the gaps.
Blumenthal said that he and 40 other members of Congress signed on a letter to HUD yesterday, calling on them to reverse the changes and to continue provisions for permanent housing. He said that “members of Congress on both sides of the aisle find this policy change an anathema,” and said he hopes Republicans will “join us in a budget appropriation of $4 billion that says permanent housing must be required.” Blumenthal called on them to “put their money where their mouth is,” and called on service providers and advocates to continue supporting the cause.
“We are going to keep fighting, because when we fight, we win,” said Blumenthal.
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