Gov. Ned Lamont announced the formation of the Connecticut Council on Homelessness, which will include leaders from a wide swath of government departments, to focus on improving the state’s current programs, meet housing demands and improve the effectiveness of the state’s response to homelessness.
The move comes weeks after a bipartisan group of lawmakers joined nonprofits that focus on homelessness to raise the alarm over the increasing number of people living outside with no shelter and the lack of available shelter beds as Connecticut entered its coldest winter months.
Nonprofit leaders called for an additional $20 million in funding, while legislators lamented that every year, they have to bring attention to this same homelessness issue at the onset of winter. Connecticut’s homeless population has increased over the last two years and many shelters say they need more funding and space to keep people and families from freezing outside.
“Everyone should have access to a safe, warm place to call home,” Lamont said in a press release. “State and local governments, along with our nonprofit partners, need the resources available to them to ensure that fewer people face the possibility of becoming homeless. Between building new housing units, addressing mental health issues, improving access to education and health care, and increasing job support, this issue must be addressed in a holistic manner.”
The council will include leaders from 12 agencies ranging from the Department of Housing to the Department of Labor and the Department of Correction. Additionally, leaders from eight other departments ranging from Higher Education to Economic and Community Development will serve as ad hoc members.
The idea, according to the press release, is for the different agencies to join together to come up with a more collaborative, robust and state-wide response in order to more effectively meet the needs of those struggling with homelessness, and to find ways to strengthen housing stability while increasing housing across the state.
Lawmakers, including Rep. Jay Case, R-Torrington, indicated during a December 20 press conference that some of the monetary support to build more shelters has been delayed in getting to those who need it, forcing some municipalities, like Torrington, to expend funds on housing people in motels.
Nonprofit leaders also said that while they always plan for the difficulties of housing people in the winter, it is difficult because they never know how much funding they will have.
Connecticut’s budget has enjoyed several years of record revenue surpluses, that mostly went to fill the state’s reserve fund and pay down pension debt, and in the wake of federal pandemic funding ending, state agencies and state supported nonprofits are clamoring for more support, putting pressure on lawmakers.
The Council is also asked to “uplift the voices of those closest to the issue of homelessness and consider the personal experiences and recommendations of those facing barriers to housing across the state,” according to the press release, and create an advisory committee “for practitioners and advocates to provide ongoing feedback to state agencies.”
During the December 20 press conference, Sen. Saud Anwar, D-Windsor, said Connecticut’s lack of adequate support for the homeless is a “moral failure.”
“We get winter every year,” Anwar said. “The fact that we have to have these conferences every year is a moral failure.”
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Looks good on paper, but slow on action. I had to leave an apartment I lived in for over 12 years. I had residency there, received mail there, license and registration there, and paid town tax on vehicle there in town. I’m 72 years old with multiple disabilities and ended up living and sleeping in my vehicle this winter when Temps dropped down in the 20’s at night. This was a HUD subsidized senior complex and I qualified to be a tenant there. HUM, nothing done about it. Still nowhere to live…