© 2024 Connecticut Public

FCC Public Inspection Files:
WEDH · WEDN · WEDW · WEDY · WNPR
WPKT · WRLI-FM · WEDW-FM · Public Files Contact
ATSC 3.0 FAQ
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Homelessness Drops 24% In Connecticut

Luis Vazquez, a Navy veteran who was homeless off and on for 10 years, sits outside his home in a veterans' housing complex in Newington, Conn., in 2015.
Dave Collins
/
AP
Luis Vazquez, a Navy veteran who was homeless off and on for 10 years, sits outside his home in a veterans' housing complex in Newington, Conn., in 2015.

Homelessness is on the rise nationally – but on the decline in Connecticut. That’s the finding in a new report from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Homeless dropped by 23.7% in the state. So why is Connecticut bucking the trend?

“We, like many other communities, have been implementing a housing-first approach. We’ve not only organized homeless services across our state, but also we’re doing our best to make sure people don’t have to wait for assistance to get connected to stable housing,” said Richard Cho with the Connecticut Coalition to End Homelessness.

Cho also said a spike in homelessness was due to Hurricane Maria.

“We had to count households who were evacuated from Puerto Rico to Connecticut and were placed in the federal emergency sheltering program through FEMA. What you’re seeing as a decrease from 2018 to 2019 also reflects the fact that there are no longer households in those emergency shelters.”

Cho said California’s increasing homelessness problem offsets the decline in Connecticut and other states. More than half of all unsheltered homeless people live in California, according to the report.

The Connecticut Coalition to End Homelessness will hold an annual count of homeless people in the state later this month.

Copyright 2020 WSHU

Davis Dunavin loves telling stories, whether on the radio or around the campfire. He fell in love with sound-rich radio storytelling while working as an assistant reporter at KBIA public radio in Columbia, Missouri. Before coming back to radio, he worked in digital journalism as the editor of Newtown Patch. As a freelance reporter, his work for WSHU aired nationally on NPR. Davis is a proud graduate of the University of Missouri School of Journalism; he started in Missouri and ended up in Connecticut, which, he'd like to point out, is the same geographic trajectory taken by Mark Twain.

Stand up for civility

This news story is funded in large part by Connecticut Public’s Members — listeners, viewers, and readers like you who value fact-based journalism and trustworthy information.

We hope their support inspires you to donate so that we can continue telling stories that inform, educate, and inspire you and your neighbors. As a community-supported public media service, Connecticut Public has relied on donor support for more than 50 years.

Your donation today will allow us to continue this work on your behalf. Give today at any amount and join the 50,000 members who are building a better—and more civil—Connecticut to live, work, and play.