Connecticut Point in Time 2012 - Overview

Your Assistance Coordinator

Sarah Zucker Research Manager (860) 721-7876 x111
szucker@cceh.org

Program News

An Overview of the CT PIT 2012

Welcome to the website for CT PIT 2012, the Statewide Point-in-Time Count. Here you can find information about the Point in Time Count, a library of current CT Counts documents, fact sheets from last year’s data, and other helpful links. Please browse the site to learn more about CT Counts.

What is the Point-In-Time?

Since 2007, Connecticut has conducted a statewide standardized and coordinated ‘census’ of homelessness, working to enumerate homelessness both in shelters and on the street. The Point-in-Time Count has mobilized non-profits, local and state government agencies, and hundreds of concerned citizens from every region of the state to gather critical data in order to inform efforts to prevent and end homelessness. During these last five years, the Connecticut Coalition to End Homelessness along with the Partnership for Strong Communities, has worked with organizations such as The Reaching Home Campaign, the Corporation for Supportive Housing, University of Pennsylvania’s Cartographic Modeling Lab, and the Center for Urban Community Services Housing Resource Center (CUCS) for assistance in organizing a statewide count of homeless people. The 2012 Count includes partners at Central Connecticut State University and Nutmeg Consulting LLC. The Connecticut Coalition to End Homelessness provides statewide coordination of Count initiative as well as lead authorship on CT Counts reports; 2007 and 2008 reports were authored chiefly by CUCS.

Connecticut 's inaugural statewide homeless count using consistent data collection methods occurred on January 30, 2007. One year later, on January 30, 2008, communities across Connecticut conducted their second count of people living in emergency shelters, in transitional housing programs, in the woods, on the streets, and in cars or other unsheltered locations. The Point in Time Count initiative and the CT Counts report it informs is now in its fifth consecutive year.

Since 2003, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has required applicants for federal homeless assistance grants to report the number of people who are homeless in their communities at a particular time. HUD currently requires that communities conduct a point-in-time count during the last week of January. Collecting reliable baseline data is essential to understanding the causes of homelessness and designing effective interventions to help homeless people rebuild their lives. CT Counts continues to collect annual data in order to better understand the dynamic causes of homelessness, to evaluate the effectiveness of programs serving homeless people and, ultimately, to track progress towards ending homelessness in Connecticut.

CT PIT 2012 will be held on January 25, 2012. For further information on this year’s Count, please visit http://www.cceh.org