Politics & Government

Homeless Numbers Rising in Connecticut

The 7 percent year-over-year rise in Connecticut bucks a downward national trend, according to survey results released this week by the federal Housing and Urban Development Department.

Though the number of homeless people in the United States dropped in 2013, according to a survey released this week, Connecticut saw an uptick in those living on the streets and in shelters, officials say.

Nationally, the figure dropped 4 percent—from 634,000 to 610,000, according to a year-over-year, single-night count done in January—but here in the Nutmeg State the number of homeless people increased 7 percent, to more than 4,500 people. The figures are from the “Point in Time” survey from the federal Housing and Urban Development Department.

One group that advocates for the prevention and end of homelessness in Connecticut paints a troubling picture.

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“We have seen the number of families homeless, and not adequately sheltered, double,” said Lisa Tepper Bates, executive director of the Hartford-based Connecticut Coalition to End Homelessness.

The nonprofit organization coordinates Connecticut’s part in the national Point in Time survey, to be taken in 2014 on Jan. 29.

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According to the report released Thursday by HUD, nearly two-thirds of the homeless in the national count were living in emergency shelters or transitional housing programs, while the remainder lived on the streets. Taken together, California, New York, Florida, Texas and Massachusetts accounted for more than half of the nation’s homeless population. 

In Connecticut and throughout the United States, progress appears to have been made in reducing the number homeless veterans. The figure is down 8 percent nationally year-over-year, and since 2005, has dropped 25 percent in Connecticut, the survey found.


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