Amid climbing housing costs and inflation, the number of people experiencing homelessness in Connecticut rose another 13% from January 2023 to January 2024 — the third year of continued increases, according to the latest annual count of the population.
The annual point-in-time count, which is a census of the population of people experiencing homelessness statewide, found that there were 3,410 unhoused people in the state on a single night in January. Last year’s count showed that there were 3,015.
Providers and experts say that people are staying in shelters for longer periods of time, there are scant shelter beds, and a lack of affordable housing makes it hard for people to exit homelessness.
“We’ve had a continuing rise across the state as cost of living continues to impact people’s housing stability,” said Michele Condorino, chief executive officer at Open Doors in Norwalk. “The lack of livable wage employment is driving more and more households into the experience of homelessness.”
Condorino, who is also the board president for the Connecticut Coalition to End Homelessness, said it’s disappointing to see continued increases in the population after several years of decreases. The state had cut down on its homeless population, she said, after significant investment.
“At one point when housing prices started to climb, and when inflation started to climb, landlords started spiking their rents, in some cases, to keep up with insurance,” said Jim Bombaci, of Nutmeg Consulting, the agency that put together this year’s report. “But in other cases, it was because they knew they could.”
Bombaci, who used to be a landlord, said there are plenty of landlords who rent at fair market or below. But there are others who are trying to increase profit, he said, and it’s caused problems for people with low incomes.
“How do we stave off this mass increase in monthly rent?” Bombaci said. “Because there’s no reason a two-bedroom apartment should be $2,000 a month.”
William Rabanal, a Connecticut resident who has been living in shelters for nearly a year, said he’s in favor of some form of rent control. He lost his housing after a conflict with a roommate and first stayed at a shelter in New London before moving to a shelter in Willimantic.
Rabanal spends most of his days between the shelter and the library, where he charges his phone and picks up books. Earlier this week, it was a biography on Frank Sinatra.
“I found out there’s no rent control in the state of Connecticut,” he said. “Basically it’s like whoever is renting out places, I guess they can jack up the price to whatever they want, and it’s out of control.”
Demographics of the unhoused population
About 700 of the people experiencing homelessness in Connecticut were children, according to the count. Nearly 800 are 55 or older.
Providers have said many senior citizens with fixed incomes are losing their housing because of rent increases.
Connecticut saw drops in the number of unaccompanied children experiencing homelessness and the number of younger adults ages 18 to 24 experiencing homelessness, according to the report.
Condorino said it was a “great example” of what can happen when there’s more money targeted at helping a certain population.
The majority of people experiencing homelessness in Connecticut — about 68% — were people of color, according to the report. The greatest portion of that 68% were Black.
About 40-50% of people experiencing homelessness typically have some kind of income, such as Social Security or employment, Bombaci said. It’s just not enough to afford an apartment without help, he said.
For adults-only households with employment, the average monthly income was $1,459 a month, he said.
“How can we get this person from the age that they’re at, find them employment and, hopefully, potentially get them to where they can afford fair-market rent?” Bombaci said. “For some people, that might happen. For a lot of people, it’s not happening quickly enough, or it might not happen.”
While the number of shelter beds available continued to rise this year, some of the COVID funds that began in 2021 ended just ahead of the 2024 count, according to the report. There were 41 COVID-funded programs in 2023 with 1,493 beds. That number dropped to 20 programs with 1,323 beds.
Condorino said it’s been particularly hard to find shelter beds for families. Many families are being forced to live outside, in their cars or in other places not meant for human habitation, she said.
“We’ve never been in that place as a state,” Condorino said. “We’ve had to rally around a family and come up with a creative solution in the past, but we’ve never had so many families and not been able to provide any resources to them. I hate to see that in this state.”
Advocates nationwide are increasingly concerned about rises in unsheltered homelessness following a recent Supreme Court decision that has made it easier for town and state governments to clear homeless encampments.
Rabanal said he’s worried about falling into unsheltered homelessness. He wouldn’t know where to go, he said, and doesn’t know how to handle extreme temperatures or what to do if he encountered animals while he was camping.
He’s been in a waiting pattern for months, hoping that he can access a housing program or get a voucher.
Likely undercount
The annual census is broadly considered an undercount. Different agencies define homelessness in different ways, and the point-in-time count could miss people who are living in hotels or motels or those who avoid accessing services because of their immigration status or fear the involvement of child protective services.
It’s also a snapshot in time, not a fluctuating picture of need, Bombaci said.
At the end of June, the unsheltered count alone was at 2,288, according to data from the state’s by-name list, an accounting of people accessing services that updates regularly.
And preliminary data from Connecticut’s Department of Education, which defines homelessness differently than HUD, showed that there were more than 2,700 students experiencing homelessness in the 2023-24 school year.
The point-in-time count is a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development requirement for states that receive money from the federal agency. HUD uses the numbers in the point-in-time count to determine how to divvy up money among states.
A bevy of providers across the state have launched efforts to cut down on and prevent homelessness. In Eastern Connecticut and Fairfield County, they’re working with landlords to help the unhoused population get apartments.
In 2016, Connecticut became the second state in the nation to get official federal recognition for ending veteran homelessness. In 2022, advocates organized around a plan to end homelessness in Connecticut.
When people in the housing and homelessness sphere talk about “ending homelessness,” they typically mean that they are meeting the federal definition of what’s called “functional zero.”
And the last legislative session saw more efforts from providers to advocate for additional financial support, among other initiatives to support the homeless population.
During the last session, providers asked for $20 million in additional money from the state, although those requests weren’t met when officials decided not to amend the budget and instead reallocated remaining COVID relief money to certain programs.
Gov. Ned Lamont earlier this year announced the launch of an Interagency Council on Homelessness. The council aims to coordinate efforts to help the unhoused population among providers and state agencies.
Still, for those who are living in shelters, it’s hard waiting to see results from these efforts, Rabanal said.
“They need to do something a little bit better,” Rabanal said.
This story was originally published by the Connecticut Mirror.
