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

We've surpassed 582 exits to housing and counting! Since our last update, final numbers from July have come in; overall, 267 people were housed last month. In addition, 31 people have been housed in the first week of August.

Communities have begun to receive their CARES Act funding designated for housing and homelessness services. We expect that this funding will go a long way to securing even more exits to housing across all communities in the state!

In total, 290 people have been housed using long-term housing resources, 219 self-resolved, and 71 were housed using one-time housing resources. An additional two people were housed through other sources of funding.

Eastern CAN continues to lead all regions in the total number of people housed, with 141 total exits to housing! Fairfield and New Haven take the second and third spots with 118 and 114 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.

What's New?

Joe McCarthy of the IRS outlined options to enable non-filers to get their payments, including a tool that's available on the agencies website www.IRS.gov. It is also possible to file a 2019 return with zero tax liability by October 31. And if all other steps fail, individuals can file a 2020 return with zero tax liability. He notes that a shelter address can be used to receive payments.

A number of ConnectIcut agencies have already been working with their clients to file for the payments and have struggled with the process. In addition to wanting to hear directly from service providers, McCarthy says volunteers with the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program or VITAP are available to help with paperwork.

McCarthy can be reached at Joseph.S.McCarthy@irs.gov. Promotional materials that can be used to spread the word about how to file for payments can be found at https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/economic-impact/payments-partner-and-promotional-materials.

Featured Stories

The Beth-El Center in Milford recently entered into a partnership with the Women and Family Life Center in Guilford and the United Way of Greater New Haven with the intention of creating a 'shoreline diversion specialist' position, providing support from Milford to Madison.

The diversion specialist will operate throughout the Greater New Haven region, working with various agencies and other venues like soup kitchens where vulnerable communities can be connected with. The goal is to assist those at high risk for homelessness in identifying alternate housing arrangements to connect them to services that can help them find or remain stably housed without needing to enter the homeless response system. This effort to divert those vulnerable to the experience of homelessness will begin in mid-August, after the Women and Family Life Center was awarded funds for the project through the Guilford's Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Program.

This is especially important in response to the COVID pandemic. As the effort to move people from hotels and shelter settings into permanent housing placements continues, ensuring that those who are not experiencing immediate need, or who may just need support in creative problem-solving to find a secure and safe place to be, can find those solutions before they are without a place to stay.

"If there is one thing this uncertain time has shown us it is that in order to tackle big problems like housing insecurity, we need to be creative and collaborative. Now, more than ever, families are facing very difficult choices between rent and food. This is not a new problem, but the pandemic has made it worse. To the extent we can avoid them entering the shelter system, we want to, which is why this position is so critical right now."

- Meghan Scanlon, Executive Director, Women and Family Life Center

As we stare down the barrel of a looming eviction crisis and high levels of unemployment in the state, making sure people can secure housing before they are homeless will help in A) continuing to monitor and reduce the spread of the coronavirus, B) ensuring the homeless response system has the capacity to support those facing immediate crises, and C) continuing efforts to work towards our collective goal of making experiences of homelessness rare, brief and one-time for all in CT.