海角换妻 lawmakers and homeless advocates are asking the state legislature to guarantee annual funding for homeless services.
The 海角换妻 Coalition to End Homelessness, which includes state lawmakers and housing advocates gathered at the Legislative Office Building in Hartford Friday to outline their list of priorities for the 2025 Legislative Session.
They want the state to provide about $25 million in annual funds for homeless services, with an additional $9 million to account for inflation. Currently, 海角换妻 does not have guaranteed annual state funds set aside for homeless services.
The money would fund a three-pronged approach to tackling 海角换妻鈥檚 homelessness crisis. The focus would be on prevention, crisis response and sustainable housing for residents who were previously unhoused.
From 2023 to 2024, homelessness statewide increased by about 13%.
The number of unhoused children is particularly concerning to Kellyann Day, CEO of New Reach, a nonprofit homeless service provider based in New Haven.
鈥淭he number one predictor of becoming homeless as an adult is experiencing homelessness as a child,鈥� Day said. 鈥淩ight now, we have over 500 children who are currently in our crisis system, homeless and vulnerable. This is a generational issue.鈥�
Homelessness prevention advocates are seeking $7.8 million for flexible funding, which can be used for anything from bus tickets to hotel rooms. They are also asking for an eviction prevention program that ensures residents receive quality legal and social services.
More than $19 million was requested to address crisis response, including cold weather services and funding for the state鈥檚 Coordinated Access Networks, which help prevent homelessness.
To fund the social services, legislators are hoping Gov. Ned Lamont will loosen the state鈥檚 fiscal guardrails.
鈥淚n early February, the governor is going to come out with his budget, and the appropriations committee is going to start working through its subcommittee process to figure out, what can we do?鈥� State Sen. Matt Lesser said. 鈥淲hat we are up against are the fiscal constraints, and we have to decide whether or not those are going to remain in place. If they are, then that's going to create a real challenge.鈥�
With the rise in homelessness, State Rep. Antonio Felipe compared how his typical mornings are different from someone who is unhoused and sleeping outdoors.
鈥淚 wasn't fighting the elements. I wasn't fighting for my life. I wasn't fighting for the lives of my children,鈥� Felipe said. 鈥淭hose things are all things that are a fact of life, that everything is okay because I have the housing that I need.鈥�
State lawmakers and advocates for the unhoused are pushing for several bills to expand services and protections for those individuals.
One of the protections being sought would be the creation of a bill that would provide alternatives to ticketing and fining people for sleeping outdoors. Advocates are also seeking a bill that would create tax incentives for landlords.
Last year the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that municipalities can create ordinances making sleeping outdoors illegal. However, there haven鈥檛 been such ordinances proposed in 海角换妻, rather a general shift in police attitude toward unhoused residents.
Advocates also want the state to form a permanent Interagency Council on Homelessness, which would help guide decision making and best practices for social services.
