Cold weather shelters across Connecticut are now open and providers are concerned about an increase in demand.
The rate of homelessness increased 13% statewide year-over-year, according to the Connecticut Coalition to End Homelessness.
Homeless residents can use the state’s 2-1-1 emergency line to find shelter and services in various counties through Coordinated Access Networks (CAN).
Homelessness in the Greater Hartford area has risen by 10% over last year and the number of available shelter beds has decreased, according to housing advocacy nonprofit, Journey Home.
Last winter, Journey Home’s shelters were forced to turn away as many as 10 residents seeking shelter in a night, said Journey Home’s Executive Director, Matthew Morgan. This year, Morgan anticipates the network will have fewer beds.
“The reality is that many people will often go to a hospital emergency room and stay the night there, when there's nothing else available,” Morgan said. “But that just creates problems with the emergency room system where then if someone needs an emergency room, like somebody's having an emergency, then the emergency room system is then kind of clogged up as well, just like our shelters are clogged up.”
There’s no singular reason why the shelter situation may be slightly worse this season, rather there is a confluence of factors, including an increase in homelessness, inflation, instability of the housing market and flat funding from the state, Morgan said.
Morgan is searching for another shelter location outside of Hartford, where almost all the region’s shelters are located.
Cold weather shelters are not a designated part of the state’s annual budget. Connecticut’s legislature decides how much to allocate for the centers each year.
Federal coronavirus relief dollars were used during the pandemic to fund additional beds and resources for the homeless. Some of the support included housing families and medically compromised residents in hotels. However, those funds expired, leaving the shelters with significantly less money with which to set up beds.
“Every year we advocate really hard for money, cold weather funding is not annualized in the state budget,” Jessica Kubicki, chief initiative officer of Opening Doors Fairfield County, said. ”That is obviously our number one priority, so we don't have to keep fighting this fight.”
Some state officials, like Department of Housing Commissioner Seila Mosquera-Bruno, believe Connecticut will be able to keep homeless individuals sheltered this winter.
Creating more programs designed to prevent residents from falling into homelessness is a priority for Connecticut’s Department of Housing, Mosquera-Bruno said.
“We are working to find more permanent solutions than saying we’re just going to allocate,” Mosquera-Bruno said. “We do have to do that for emergencies, but we keep building housing to prevent people from being outside.”
The department is also planning to improve its record-keeping, tracking recidivism rates and causes of homelessness.
