HARTFORD — Governor Ned Lamont and his administration announced Tuesday that the state will be adding $1.1 million in state funding to support the Connecticut Coalition to End Homelessness.
“Increasing the availability of housing for those who are most vulnerable of becoming homeless results in stronger, safer, and more stable communities where families thrive and businesses grow,” Governor Lamont said. “By having supports in place for those who are on the verge of becoming homeless, we can rapidly respond to the situations they are facing. Connecticut’s state agencies and nonprofit providers have formed a solid partnership and collaborative approach on these efforts – and I applaud each of them because the work they are doing is turning lives around.”
A recent HUD report showed that homelessness in Connecticut is down 23.7% between January 2018 and January 2019.
“I believe my job extends beyond the four walls of my office,” Housing Commissioner Seila Mosquera-Bruno said. “I’ve been in my role close to year now and have traveled all over the state visiting developments and shelters, and meeting with housing and homeless advocates. I’ve taken a tour of the 2-1-1 system and as I continue to meet with the Coordinated Access Networks, we’ve discussed what works well and what can be done better. The number one item I hear about is that more dollars are needed to help households before they reach the crisis stage. We hope with this new commitment that we will continue to see a decline in the number of households enter into our system, especially as we look to our annual snapshot count.”
The funding will come for the Connecticut Department of Housing’s current budget.
“Over the last few years, Connecticut has developed a range of tools to help local families avoid or quickly exit homelessness into stable housing,” Richard Cho, CEO of CCEH, said. “These sizeable investments enable us to scale-up our response so that we can reach every family that falls into homelessness. We applaud Governor Lamont and Commissioner Mosquera-Bruno for their leadership and financial commitment.”
