New Haven Independent

The New Haven Ten-Year Plan to End Chronic Homelessness (Click here to read) was unveiled in December, 2005. Mayor John DeStefano was able to announce some progress over the past 18 months as he released the Implementation Plan (Click here to read). New Haven secured $4.9 million to provide housing for the homeless, and almost 150 units of supportive housing have come on-line, he said.

For an example of supportive housing, folks had to look no farther than the building they were sitting in for the press conference - Liberty Safe Haven on State Street.

Executive Director John Bradley (pictured at the podium) right, said the building includes 33 efficiency apartments for single men and women (no families). Its support services include a 24-hour staff presence, including overnight security, “which is an important component for people who have been in an insecure situation for so long,” he said. Also, case management, health services and various tenant groups like a book club.

DeStefano said two things that need to happen now are building better connections with health care institutions and creating more employment opportunities for formerly homeless people. Click here for more.

Speakers noted that the number of homeless women and women with children is growing in New Haven. Another problem is that many individuals leaving prison are still being dropped off at homeless shelters.

What are the numbers? On January 30, New Haven participated in the first-ever statewide count of homeless individuals and families, but the results have not been announced yet. On one day in 2004 the city counted 1,113 homeless people, almost a quarter of whom (252) met the federal definition of chronic homelessness and who consume a higher proportion of city services than those homeless who are temporarily down on their luck. The 2005 plan was based on these figures.

Jim Farnam, whose consulting firm Holt, Wexler & Farnam, LLP, prepared the implementation plan, said it was important to keep what New Haven is doing in a broader perspective: the state plan is to create 10,000 units of supportive housing; of that, 1,300 would be in the 15 towns in South Central Connecticut; and of that, about 400 units would be in New Haven.

Are surrounding towns doing their share?

Gary Spinner (pictured), chair of the City’s Homeless Advisory Commission, said, in a word, No. Click here for his comments.

DeStefano said New Haven can lead by example, by creating programs like Liberty Safe Haven, which are not a negative element within their community but a positive part of the neighborhood.

Spinner addressed the question of what’s the key ingredient to helping the homeless help themselves. For some years, he said, it was “housing,” then, during the crack epidemic, some suggested it was “treatment,” but now the pendulum seems to have swung back. Click here for his ruminations.

Spinner said he didn’t know if there are more or fewer chronically homeless people in New Haven than, say, ten years ago. But he did know this: There are fewer total federal dollars allocated by HUD for housing. Housing Authority of New Haven staffer Maureen Novak said in the current year, the Authority received 82 percent of the federal allotment it should have received based on the housing and services it provides. She added that President Bush’s budget for the upcoming year trims that back even more, to 80 percent.

Meanwhile, according to the National Priorities Project, the war in Iraq has so far cost New Haven taxpayers $209.6 million.

Spinner noted that when low-income people in the city are squeezed out of low-income housing, their next step is often into homelessness.