Connecticut mayors plead for help to deal with homeless amid overwhelmed shelters

Mayors from two of Connecticut’s largest cities pleaded for help dealing with homelessness, telling lawmakers at a forum Friday that shelters in their cities are overwhelmed.

They, along with advocates, said the state needs to provide more money immediately while working on long-term solutions to keep people from falling into homelessness.

“There are people who will die in the city of Hartford because they don’t have shelter,” Hartford Mayor Arunan Arulampalam warned during the forum on housing and homelessness.

Rep. Eleni Kavros DeGraw (D-Avon) organized the forum in hopes that lawmakers on the Housing, Planning and Development, and Social Services committees could hear from the same officials, advocates and business leaders concerned about the state’s housing crisis.

“I think that if we squander this momentum that we have now, it’s really a mistake,” Kavros DeGraw said about the need to address the issue this legislative session.

Connecticut Coalition to End Homelessness CEO Sarah Fox said there are currently roughly 5,000 homeless people in Connecticut, including 541 children and 1,164 seniors over the age of 65.

She also said the organization’s latest count found 940 people sleeping outside during the winter.

Mayors said those people often end up in their cities to look for shelter, but they come from all over the state.

“It’s the same story as every city in our state, where we’re the regional hubs for the towns,” Danbury Mayor Roberto Alves said.

Organizations running shelters had asked for $50 million but the current budget included only $5 million for cold-weather shelters.

A group of lawmakers last week proposed another $20 million, including $5 million more to help those shelters get through the winter. Other funding would help recruit and hire staff and support programs that help people find permanent housing.

“I can’t imagine that we will not do something about it,” said Sen. Lisa Seminara (R-Avon)

But city officials and housing advocates said money isn’t enough. Any real solutions have to include ways to increase the availability of safe and affordable housing.

“We have too little housing in the state,” said Karen Dubois-Walton, president of Elm City Communities.

Lawmakers who participated in the forum agreed.

The various committees involved in the forum are looking at legislation to provide incentives and funding for affordable housing. They’re also looking at ways to reduce the barriers to construction.

“Bills around tiny shelters, there are bills around obviously housing, sewers, we’re taking about a lot of different pieces that we know go into this,” said Kavos DeGraw, co-chair of the Planning and Development Committee.

The bipartisan push hasn’t been enough in the past. The issue is not new, but many ideas have struggled to gain traction.

Lawmakers are hopeful this year will be different.

“It is a crisis, it’s something that’s ongoing and it’s something that continues to be discussed on and on over and over again,” Seminara said.