Aliyya Swaby Photo
Connecticut is well on its way to eradicating chronic homelessness, by making it easier for low- and middle-income people to get housing, state and federal leaders said.
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy and Department of Housing Commissioner Evonne Klein offered that message at a press conference Friday afternoon at permanent supportive housing complex West Village Apartments on Howe Street. They touted the progress the state has made in increasing access to affordable housing since 2011. Connecticut is on track to end chronic homelessness by 2016, Malloy said.
The state has made “real progress in ensuring more Connecticut families of all incomes have access to safe, secure and affordable housing,” Klein said.
“Investing in housing is important,” Malloy said, because people with stable, affordable housing are less likely to be incarcerated, hospitalized or struggle with substance abuse.
In Greater New Haven, 39 development projects have provided 1,993 units of affordable housing during his administration, Malloy said. In West Village Apartments, 127 recently renovated units include 95 specifically for housing for the homeless. Malloy said he met a man that day who had been living in West Village Apartments for two years and was getting ready to move into permanent housing outside of the building.
Malloy said his administration has invested “over $1 billion in affordable housing creation, rehabilitation and preservation. This represents the largest commitment to affordable housing in decades.”
And Connecticut was the first state recognized this August to have ended chronic veteran homelessness, by decreasing the waiting period for placement in shelters, transitional housing and then permanent housing, he said.
The success reflects effective coordination among government agencies, community advocates and non-profit providers, he said.
Local activist Edward Anderson asked why some New Haven developments such as 360 State St. offer state subsidies to individuals making between $43,000 and $67,000 when low-income families need access to housing.
Malloy said he believes the state needs a variety of housing, including market-rate, “subsidized for the very poor and subsidized for those at different levels.” He said most people he knew making $43,000 are also sharing apartments. “I always talk about a range.”
My complaint is that half of the fifty ballyhooed affordable housing units at 360State consist of studio apartments being rented out to people making $43k-$67k. (80%-120% of median household income.)
With State housing subsidies so, so dear, single young professionals with incomes of $50,000 or $60,000 a year should not be getting them. Subsidizing individuals, (not families), in that salary range, to help them afford luxury studios in one of the swankiest buildings in Connecticut? Something went very wrong there.
My hope is that when future developers garner State of CT money for affordable housing components, it won't be a repeat of the travesty that occurred at 360State.