CCEH March Newsletter

CCEH Newsletter

March 2019

D ear friends,

While winter weather still persists, Spring is just around the corner and we at CCEH are gearing up for a busy season. The legislative session is in full swing and key decisions will be made regarding key budget items and policy actions regarding homelessness. We are finalizing the details for our upcoming Annual Training Institute, including adding some nationally-renowned speakers. Meanwhile, our work in the field with all of our partners to create an efficient and effective homelessness response system continues. I want to share with you some highlights on what to expect over the coming months.

The need for advocacy around our policy priorities for ending homelessness at the state Capitol is great. As you know, Governor Lamont included many of the key budget items needed to end homelessness in his requested budget, but the final budget will involve decisions made by the Connecticut General Assembly. We need your help to voice your support for these priorities. Please connect with your local legislators by attending hearings, invite them to see your programs and work in-person, and participate in the 2019 Homelessness and Housing Advocacy Days, April 17th-18th. Please keep an eye out for Advocacy Alerts from the Reaching Home Campaign which will provide you with guidance on the most meaningful action steps you can take. For advocacy work, knowledge is truly power - especially with a new administration and new representatives.

Our Annual Training Institute on May 16th will highlight inclusiveness in our programs, systems, and solutions. "Beyond Barriers: Enhancing Access to Housing Solutions," will feature a "Removing the Barriers of Racial Bias" workshop track, as well as workshops highlighting healthcare, emergency shelters, schools, outreach, families, youth, and many others. Our featured speakers include Marc Dones of the newly formed National Innovation Service, an organization that assists communities with developing equity-based service systems; Ann Oliva, Senior Policy Advisor at CSH and former Deputy Assistant Secretary for Special Needs at HUD; and Chiraag Bains, Director of Legal Strategies at Demos and former Senior Counsel to the Assistant Attorney General in the Civil Rights Division at the U.S. Department of Justice. Sold out over the last three years, we encourage people to register now to ensure participation.

CCEH wants to share some of its new research and work on racial disparity. CCEH held a webinar series "Racial Inequities in Housing and Homelessness” to inform and empower providers. We encourage you to get involved in these conversations and grow in awareness of how we can address racial disparities in our homeless and housing systems.

Lastly, in this newsletter you will find shared knowledge from Connecticut providers and national leaders to inform your work. We're all on the same team and only by sharing our successes can we truly make a larger dent in ending homelessness in Connecticut.

With much gratitude,

Richard Cho

CEO

Housing Advocacy in Action!

With the 2019 legislative session well underway, homelessness and housing advocates are stepping up to make the case for resources critical to maintaining the gains we have made in ending homelessness. More than 40 providers and advocates have submitted testimony for the public budget hearings, and many have come to Hartford to testify in support of investments through the Department of Housing, Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services, and the Department of Social Services. Thank you to all who have advocated with us!

Read Richard Cho's testimony:

Please make sure to mark your calendar for April 17th & April 18th, 2019 Reaching Home Homelessness and Housing Advocacy Days at the Legislative Office Building in Hartford, when advocates representing each of the 7 CAN regions meet with legislators and make our case for the resources needed to do this important work. A strong turnout by each of our CANs is critical to the success of our efforts.

CCEH is working closely with the Partnership for Strong Communities, to make sure that you have all of the advocacy resources needed this legislative session.

Advocacy Reboot Webinar: New Leadership, New Opportunities, and New Resolve. Kiley Gosselin from the Partnership for Strong Communities, Richard Cho and Sarah Fox from the Connecticut Coalition to End Homelessness, and Kate Robinson from Gallo & Robinson will provide you with an in-depth overview of the new election outcomes and their impact on the 2019 Reaching Home Campaign legislative priorities for Connecticut. Click here to watch the webinar. Click here to view the webinar slides.

Thanks again for your commitment to ending homelessness in Connecticut! Together, we are making a difference.

If you have any questions please contact Sarah Fox at [email protected] or Danielle Hubley at [email protected].

Aligning Affordable Housing with Efforts to End Homelessness

While it has become clear that homelessness stems directly from the lack of affordable housing, we also know that efforts to end homelessness and affordable housing policies and programs are not always as aligned as they could be. For example, a significant portion of the federal and state-funded rental assistance and affordable housing that is currently available in Connecticut does not give priority consideration to households experiencing homelessness. Thus, while we are currently doing much to ensure that the most vulnerable people and families are prioritized for homelessness assistance, we as a state could be doing much more to look at how we are prioritizing our affordable housing resources to increase access among people experiencing homelessness.

Recognizing that more could be done to align affordable housing and efforts to end homelessness, the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness recently published this resource, Aligning Affordable Housing with Efforts to End Homelessness. Over the coming months, CCEH will be working with partners across the state to convene conversations about ways that we can strengthen partnerships between the homelessness assistance system (e.g. the Coordinated Access Networks) and housing authorities, municipalities, and other agencies and organizations that administer affordable housing and rental assistance. In addition to identifying ways to improve access to affordable housing for people experiencing homelessness, these conversations can also focus on ways that the Coordinated Access Networks can support housing agencies through services and administrative support.

CCEH Welcomes Susan Walker

Susan Walker joins the CCEH team as the new Senior Research Analyst.

Susan joins us after completing her graduate thesis on youth experiencing homelessness in southern New England, the last requirement for a Master’s in Public Health from Brown University. Susan managed data collection and reporting for the 2017 and 2018 Rhode Island Youth Counts, and previously monitored data quality for Rhode Island’s Homeless Management Information System. Before embarking on a public health career, Susan addressed homelessness through activism, fighting unnecessary policing of people experiencing homelessness. She currently volunteers her time gathering survey data for a renter protection initiative in Providence, RI, and organizes a community garden. Susan has made a moral commitment to end homelessness through advocacy based on sound data. She also has 20 years of experience buying and selling antiques.

Join us for the 17th Annual Training Institute May 16, 2019

Featured Plenary Speakers

Ann Oliva

Senior Policy Advisor at the Corporation for Supportive Housing

Chiraag Bains

Director of Legal Strategies at Demos

Marc Dones

Senior Lead for Equitable Systems at Future Laboratories

Featured Workshop Tracks:

Creative Strategies to Prevent and End Student Homelessness
Harnessing the Power of Outreach
A Holistic Approach to Ending Family Homelessness
The Intersection of Health and Homelessness
Optimizing Our System to End Homelessness
Removing the Barriers of Racial Bias
Sharing Solutions: Working Across Systems to Improve Housing Outcomes
Utilizing Data to End Homelessness
Youth Engagement & Leadership in Ending Homelessness

Stay tuned for more details about speakers and workshops.

This event has sold out the last 3 years.

Learn More & Register

Racial Disparities in Housing and Homelessness

By Tashmia Bryant, CCEH Training & Technical Assistance Coordinator

Connecticut is ranked 5th in the US for overall poverty with people of color accounting for 59.4%. Considering poverty is a main contributor to homelessness, there is no surprise then that people of color account for a majority of the homeless population in our state. Connecticut’s general population breakdown is 68% white and 31% non-white, yet we see these statistics are reversed with 68% of our homeless population being non-white. These statistics reveal a racial disparity and because of this, it is imperative for our homeless response system to examine factors contributing to these outcomes.

This dichotomy we are seeing in the homeless response world is the direct result of systemic racism that has persistently afflicted our country for many years. This plague of racism has contributed to poverty in communities of color and includes:

Redlining preventing people of color from owning homes and building wealth
Over-policing and harsher sentencing for people of color leading to difficulty obtaining jobs and housing due to having a criminal record
Underfunding of schools that predominantly serve students of color

Because of these issues, our work to end homelessness requires vigilance against current policies and practices that maintain these disproportionate ratios. In addition, our state and communities should collaborate to innovate and implement strategies to make our systems equitable.

What Can You Do?

Visit the CCEH Cultural Competency resource page to view recorded webinars and other helpful resources.
Register for the 2019 Annual Training Institute and follow the race equity track.
Become aware of current advocacy efforts in the state to address racial disparities in the state and get involved.

Please consider becoming a 2019 CCEH Member

Membership dues allow CCEH to advocate for the resources homeless providers need, provide training and technical assistance on best practices for providers, and educate elected leaders and the public about the important work our Coalition is doing to end homelessness. Being a CCEH Member also means a significant discount on the Annual Training Institute and training registrations.

Becoming a Member is easy:

Organizations: Visit CCEH.org/joinus to access the online form and pay your $225 dues
Individuals: Visit CCEH.org/donate-now and make a $20 recurring donation

As you sign up for Membership, please also consider Sponsorship of the 2019 Annual Training Institute.

If you have any questions about Membership or the ATI, please feel free to reach out to Ryan Beach at [email protected].

"Solutions for Individual Homeless Adults"

NAEH Conference - February 2019 - San Diego, CA

The National Alliance to End Homelessness (NAEH) recently held its national conference on solutions for individual homeless adults. CCEH's Roy Graham, Youth Special Projects Coordinator, was invited to present on his work to divert young adults from shelter. Mimi Haley, Deputy Director, presented on integrating domestic violence survivors into our coordinated access system.

Individuals are the largest segment of the homeless population, and in CT as well as nationally, we do not have a goal or cohesive plan to end. We've not focused on individuals like we have at the state lev el with family or youth homelessness and yet they are the most visible. Over a three month period from November 1, 2018 to January 31, 2019, seventy eight percent of the appointments made in CT CANs were individuals (totaling 4,802). Now is the time to take our successes, like the establishment of a statewide Coordinated Access Network, and begin creating system level strategies to address individual homelessness.

Learn More

NAEH shared highlights from the conference, including videos of the plenary speakers, on their Facebook and Twitter accounts. They have also have the workshop presentations up on their website for all to benefit.