6th Annual Point-In-Time Count to Measure Changes in Homelessness
More than 390,000 calls were made to United Way’s 2-1-1 assistance line last year. Housing and shelter were the number one reason people called, including almost 52,000 requests for help from people searching for a place to live.
Families, children and individuals sleeping in Connecticut’s homeless shelters Wednesday night will be the focus of CT Counts 2012, the annual Point-In-Time Count. Scheduled to take place Wednesday January 25th, this yearly “census” of homelessness is a tally of homeless people on one night and forms a profile of what is usually an invisible population.
High unemployment and a lack of affordable housing is expected to be a key factor in what experts expect will show an emergency shelter system that is stretched beyond its reasonable limits. Most concerning, according to Carol Walter, Executive Director of the Connecticut Coalition to End Homelessness, the organization that conducts and analyzes the count, is the increasing number of young children sleeping in Connecticut shelter and transitional housing programs.
But Walter adds that there is plenty of hope for reversing this trend, despite rising numbers.
“We can end homelessness in our state in this decade” she said. “We know how to target housing and just the right services to families and individuals to either prevent their becoming homeless or assure that if they do become homeless they return quickly to stable housing.” Walter added, “We can prevent the devastating consequences that the experience of homelessness has in the lives of young children. We can do it in a humane, effective and cost efficient manner which will ultimately save taxpayers money.”
Effective programs include rental assistance, eviction and foreclosure prevention, security deposit guarantees, and supportive housing. Supportive housing is permanent, affordable and independent rental housing for individuals and families who have experienced long term homelessness.
The Point-in-Time Count is organized by the CT Coalition to End Homelessness, with the help of service providers within the State’s seven Continuum of Care. The count is funded by: the CT Department of Economic and Community Development, the CT Housing Finance Authority, the Melville Charitable Trust, the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving, the Community Fund of Greater New Haven, the CT Office of Policy and Management, and the CT Departments of Social Services, Children and Families, Mental Health and Addiction Services, Department of Corrections and Court Support Services Division of the Judicial Branch.