CT CAN End Homelessness Digest

This digest serves as a monthly update of CT CAN End Homelessness, including Committee and Sub-Committee Reports, upcoming meetings and events, and other relevant information about our state's homeless response effort.

Your input and participation are what make CT CAN End Homelessness possible. All of our meetings are open to the public. Please join us at a meeting, invite your colleagues, or share this with your networks. Thank you for all you do, and together, we will end homelessness in Connecticut.

Letter From Our CEO

Housing Saves Lives and Our Collective Voice Sustains It

The cold has returned, and with it, the weight of what we know too well. Each fall, as the light shifts and the air sharpens, those of us in this work feel the change before the first frost. We know what’s coming: long nights, full shelters, outreach workers knocking on tent doors, and case managers searching for housing that simply doesn’t exist.

Across Connecticut, the people who form the heart of our homeless response system are already in motion—extending hours, opening warming centers, and doing whatever it takes to make sure no one faces the night alone. Their work saves lives. Every person brought indoors, every family who moves from a car to an apartment, every older adult stabilized after years outside is proof of what housing truly is: health care, safety, and dignity.

The CT Insider’s “48 Hours of Homelessness” series by Jacqueline Rabe captured what so many of us witness every day, the human cost of this crisis and the extraordinary people working tirelessly to keep others safe. It reminded us that homelessness is not inevitable. It is the result of choices and systems, and it’s something we can solve when we act together, anchored in care.

But as we prepare for the cold, we face serious headwinds. Our worst fears were confirmed last week when HUD officially released this year’s Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO). This was a worse-case scenario, with a potential 70% cut to our state’s most stable and high-need housing programs, primarily Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH) and Rapid Rehousing (RRH). These foundational strategies will be replaced with archaic and harmful policies which prioritize criminalization and short-term housing rather than proven long term housing solutions with wrap around services.

This change will redirect homelessness funding away from proven, evidence-based models like Housing First, and toward punitive, ineffective strategies. These proposals threaten not only the stability of Connecticut’s homelessness response system but the very lives of the people we serve.

Here in Connecticut, we will continue to stand together against these actions. We thank our federal delegation, specifically Senators Blumenthal and Murphy, and Representative DeLauro for standing alongside us in support of preventing these cuts from moving forward. With the support of our advocates, our state and federal legislators, our municipal and community leaders, and our staff and clients, we will be asking the State for $70 million to cover these potential losses and ensure that people can safely stay in their homes. 

We know what works, and we know who makes it work—our frontline providers, outreach teams, advocates, and partners who show up every day with compassion and conviction. This is a moment for unity, not division. Our collective response must be as steady, focused, and rooted in humanity as the people we serve.

The CT CAN End Homelessness Campaign represents that unity, a network of providers, municipalities, state agencies, and advocates working side by side to make sure every person in our state has a safe, stable place to call home. As we face these national challenges, we are also moving forward with our regional legislative roundtables, gatherings that will bring together the Administration, legislators from across Connecticut, providers, and advocates to shape a strong, focused 2026 Legislative Agenda.

These roundtables will be a chance to align our priorities, reinforce what works, and ensure our state remains a model of coordinated, compassionate response. Together, we will build a legislative agenda that strengthens prevention, secures resources, and protects the housing programs that save lives.

Advocacy and service are inseparable. To keep providing care, we must also protect the systems that make care possible. That means raising our voices, reaching out to legislators, and sharing the stories of those we serve. It means standing beside the people whose lives depend on this work and refusing to look away.

Housing saves lives. Every one of us is part of making that possible. Together, we will continue to build the public will and shared resolve to make sure housing and the security of a roof overhead is not a privilege in Connecticut, but a promise we keep to one another.

With gratitude and resolve,

Sarah Fox

Chief Executive Officer

Connecticut Coalition to End Homelessness

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Committee Updates

Steering Committee Updates:

The Steering Committee reviewed and finalized its revised scope of work and voting structure to promote consistent representation across members. Discussion also covered the "Everyone Inside" initiative and strategies to replace expiring federal funds, concluding with a CAN vote on next steps.

Representatives from the P&A Committee shared updates on recent activities, including a letter sent to the Commissioner regarding cold weather funding, the release of new federal fact sheets, and plans for upcoming legislative roundtables. The group also discussed extreme weather preparedness and strategies to strengthen municipal engagement.

Members reviewed a document outlining key areas where CT CAN End Homelessness and state agencies can collaborate to prevent and end homelessness. Additional discussions highlighted statewide initiatives such as the Coordinated Entry evaluation, CAN governance updates, Health and Housing integration efforts, and Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH) preservation work.

Coordinated Entry and Outreach Committee Updates:

At the latest Coordinated Entry and Outreach Subcommittee meeting, co-chairs Sarah Pavone (Journey Home), Gabrielle Gauvin (The Housing Collective), and Stephanie Boyce (Hands On Hartford), along with Amber Freeman (CCEH), shared highlights from a recent community conversation and training hosted with the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities (CCM). The session helped municipal leaders better understand the homeless response system, especially during cold weather months, and identified opportunities for stronger collaboration between municipal and homelessness response systems.

The committee also previewed CCEH's upcoming Cold Weather Training Series for providers, which will soon be accessible through the new CT Housing and Homelessness Training Academy Learning Management System (LMS), offering streamlined access to seasonal preparedness resources.

Additionally, members debriefed their in-person strategic planning session, refining goals and strategies for the year ahead. Current priorities include partnering with the DMV to simplify ID access for individuals experiencing homelessness, revising CAN workflows to improve coordination and reduce 211 escalations by 25%, and forming regional teams to support elderly individuals experiencing homelessness with a goal of reducing their average time homeless by 10%. Collectively, these initiatives underscore the subcommittee's commitment to improving coordination, access, and outcomes across the state's homeless response system.

Policy & Advocacy Updates:

This month, the Policy & Advocacy Committee has met several times to come to consensus on the goals for the 2026 Legislative Agenda, going into the fall and for the new legislative session. Thank you to everyone who submitted legislative priorities! Our draft proposal is currently with the Policy & Advocacy Committee membership, which will meet separately on Monday to formalize the outline of our request for state funding to replace threatened cuts in federal CoC funding, as well as funding for an ongoing extreme weather response at the state level. Our Friday Federal Check-In calls have focused on reviewing the effects of the government shutdown as well as tomorrow’s SNAP cutoff, and on how to respond to federal changes at the state level, both through state agencies and our Congressional delegation.

We have also been working on a legislative ask through around the $500M in state funding available to address federal cuts. Through analysis with our provider and legislative partners, we are devising an ask which secures funding from state agencies and accounts for the gaps in early contract renewal expirations not covered by those agencies. With the shutdown ending, we are mobilizing around the expected NOFO, as well as PSH and RRH gaps and the additional cold weather funding needed to bring everyone indoors. 

Youth and Young Adult (YYA) Updates:

The tri-chairs recently met to align on shared legislative priorities for the upcoming session. Key focuses include clarifying McKinney Vento provisions within Connecticut law, securing funding for service personnel to provide intensive case management for youth and young adults, supporting landlord partnerships, and assisting justice-involved youth in obtaining housing. They also aim to develop landlord incentives to encourage renting and re-leasing units to YYA.

The Housing Innovations team presented an overview of the 2026 Youth Point-in-Time Count, outlining goals, methodology, and plans for youth engagement. The PIT Count, conducted annually across Connecticut, measures the number of individuals experiencing homelessness on a single night, as required by HUD. This year's count will take place on Tuesday night, January 27th, 2026, during HUD's designated last 10 days of January timeframe.

Exit Updates:

The Exit Subcommittee focused on strengthening system outflow through coordinated prevention, reduced recidivism, and enhanced collaboration across CANs. The meeting centered on developing a standardized statewide prevention case conferencing template.

Adriana Negron, Coordinated Homeless Prevention Manager at Journey Home, presented a prevention model grounded in community partnerships and data-informed coordination rather than funding. The model targets both currently housed individuals and those at risk of losing housing, emphasizing deep-dive prevention meetings, a four-week encampment-to-housing process, and collaboration with McKinney Vento liaisons to support at-risk families.

Regional groups shared effective practices and challenges. Fairfield County's sub meetings for recidivism prevention and use of Smartsheet for case coordination were noted as promising strategies. Challenges included law enforcement interactions that hinder engagement and clients who decline assistance.

Members agreed to create a unified prevention and recidivism case conferencing template usable across all CANs. Each member with contribute "triggering questions" to guide prevention discussions. A draft template will be reviewed at the next meeting, alongside continued efforts to embed upstream prevention and recidivism reduction into CAN operations.

Join the Civic Roundtable!

Civic Roundtable is a collaboration platform to increase communication and engagement within CT CAN End Homelessness. It contains committee agendas, meeting minutes, resources, and discussions. If you would like to learn more about the work of CT CAN End Homelessness's committees, please join us here.

For any inquiries, insights, or further discussion, contact Amber Freeman at afreeman@cceh.org

Upcoming Meetings

These sessions are a space for community members to contribute to achieving our goal of eliminating homelessness. Your participation enriches our open dialogues and collective efforts to develop lasting solutions.

Coordinated Entry and Outreach Subcommittee

The purpose of the Entry Subcommittee is to improve coordinated entry and to provide households access to appropriate services and shelter quickly. The purpose of the Outreach and Engagement Subcommittee is to identify, engage, and house all unsheltered individuals and families using a coordinated approach across the state



Date: November 27, 12:00 - 1:00 PM

Youth and Young Adult Subcommittee

The Policy & Advocacy Committee leads the statewide advocacy efforts of the Homeless Response System throughout the calendar year.

Date: December 9, 1:30 PM - 2:30 PM

Exit Subcommittee

The purpose of the Exit Subcommittee is to increase exits to housing, decrease the length of time homelessness, and reduce returns to homelessness.



Date: December 12, 12:00 - 1:00 PM

Policy and Advocacy Subcommittee

The Policy & Advocacy Committee leads the statewide advocacy efforts of the Homeless Response System throughout the calendar year.

Date: December 16, 1:00 - 2:30 PM

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