Connecticut has begun an ambitious effort to house 1,000 people over four months, in order to reduce the individual and community risk of COVID-19 in high-risk congregate shelters, and promote the long-term and public health of Connecticut.
From now until the end of September, the Reaching Home Campaign will be sending out bi-weekly updates on the 1,000 Homes effort. Please email info@pschousing.org if you or anyone you know would like to be added to our distribution list! Goal Progress In the 38 days since the beginning of the 1,000 Homes effort, a total of 321 people have been housed. An average of 8.68 people per day have exited homelessness in Connecticut.
We now have final numbers from June! A total of 269 people exited to housing in June, just missing the surge goal of 270 people housed.
In the first week of July, 52 people were housed. We expect these numbers to increase even further as communities begin to receive their CARES Act funding designated for housing and homelessness services.
In total, 168 people have been housed using long-term housing resources, 107 self-resolved, and 46 were housed using one-time housing resources.
Eastern CAN has taken the lead in overall exits to housing, with 75 people housed over 38 days! Keep up the great work! Greater New Haven and Fairfield County are a close second and third, with 73 and 66 exits to housing respectively.
For a complete data breakdown, visit CT CAN Data's 1,000 Homes Data Dashboard. This dashboard includes regional and demographic data, including race, ethnicity, gender, age (youth/adult), and family status. Areas of Focus Testing for COVID-19: Lessons and Challenges Testing has become a major area of focus for all communities involved in the 1,000 Homes effort. People experiencing homelessness are at heightened risk of contracting COVID-19, and special precautions have been taken to prevent the spread of the virus, both in hotels and in de-compressed shelters.
In Connecticut, these precautionary efforts have been a success so far. Shelters and hotels have successfully prevented the large-scale outbreaks that have been seen in other states. However, each community has experienced different concerns and roadblocks to implementing a widespread testing policy.
Based on early experiences of testing in hotels and shelters, as well as an awareness of the need to ramp up testing across the state, a testing recommendation framework was developed to address some of these roadblocks. Because every community is different, this document provides a set of recommendations to be adapted to each community's needs.
Click here to view the testing recommendations.
We also spoke to the communities about the challenges and benefits of the testing programs so far. Below are some answers we received:
Benefits
Challenges
Featured Stories Today we encourage all to take a moment of silence to honor David Dudley, a cherished husband, father, friend, leader, and innovator. Many in our community and across the state are sitting with the absence of an incredible presence, as we recognize the loss of Mr. Dudley. His passion and commitment to the work he did in his time as Executive Director of Shelter NOW lives on in all who worked with him, and his perspective continues to inform the work being done to end experiences of homelessness for people in the community.
While it is hard to capture a person's story on this earth, we know it is not about who we were every day, but how we are remembered by those around us that informs our legacy. Mr. Dudley's legacy only grows brighter with the comments of his colleagues and those who worked closely with him. Below are some reflections shared that speak to and honor his legacy:
I will close out this reflection with an interview for the "Faces of Homelessness" project, where David himself spoke of the value he places behind his work. A beautiful, and powerful reminder that while it is important we take this time to honor him and the life he led, there is still more we can do to ensure his legacy lives on.
"I love what I do," David says. "I have been blessed and can bring that blessing to others." "Society labels people and misjudges them," hey says. But from long experience David knows it's impossible to understand someone until you understand their life experiences. "All of our guests have some sort of pain in their past." This could be from an adverse childhood experience(s), trauma, abuse, neglect, mental illness, and/or the death of a loved one, to name a few. This may cause people to question their value and self-worth and unfortunately do harm to themselves.
For the record David confirms that, "No one wants to be homeless." So it's important for staff to focus on helping guests move past old pains and to a new and brighter future. "We make the effort to reinforce value in self and the power within," he says. At Shelter Now, no two days, nor two guests are the same. And, in part, that's what drives David - he savors a fresh challenge.
A note on donations:
As most know, David felt his greatest accomplishment was the success of his girls. In Lieu of flowers, we have set up The Dudley Education Fund for college expenses, payable to DudleyEduFund@gmail.com (Zelle). Or, we ask that you please consider helping those experiencing homelessness by donating to Shelter NOW, 43 Saint Casimir Drive, Meriden, CT 06450 in David's name. The shelter is currently only accepting personal hygiene items. For online condolences please visit jferryfh.com. |