More than half the calls made in the last eight months to a New Haven crisis response line were from people experiencing homelessness.
The Compassionate Allies Serving our Streets program (COMPASS) began last November. The team, composed of social workers and community members, work with the Elm City’s police and fire departments. They respond to emergency calls involving mental health and substance abuse crises.
The task force has responded to 537 emergency calls since its inception, according to COMPASS monthly reports.
A majority of the calls were from New Haven residents experiencing homelessness, Elm City COMPASS director Jack Tebes said.
“To date 54% of our crisis responses assisted individuals who are unhoused, often due to a mental health or substance use crisis,” Tebes said.
Housing calls handled by COMPASS can include referral and transportation to a warming center or shelter. They also help residents find permanent or temporary housing.
“This may include transporting someone to a crisis respite program so the person can take a shower and get a meal before going to a shelter,” Tebes said.
The program ensures homeless residents who are battling drug addiction are also given transportation and support during the detox process, New Haven Police Chief Karl Jacobson said.
“We've also had individuals that we've helped get out of homelessness with some very complicated histories and a lot of fears with returning to the shelter system. And we've been able to collaborate with the shelter team and the homeless teams,” Jacobson said.
The crisis response program is managed by Continuum of Care, Inc. which also supervises the COMPASS crisis response team. Of all referrals made by the COMPASS clinicians, 13% were for housing services, amounting to the second-largest portion of referrals. Twenty-seven percent of the referrals were to clothing or food services.
Understanding the concerns of residents interacting with the crisis team are often multifaceted, COMPASS is better equipped to handle particular emergency calls, New Haven Mayor Justin Elicker said.
“The people that oftentimes are being responded to are struggling with an issue around not having enough options for treatment, dealing with addiction, not having housing that is stable,” Elicker said. “The community can be open to more treatment centers in your community, more housing, deeply affordable housing in your community. The ultimate way that we're going to address this is by addressing the roots of the problem.”
