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.
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As I read through this month's updates from across CT CAN End Homelessness, I am struck by a theme that continues to emerge in nearly every conversation taking place across our campaign: the challenges before us are significant, but so is our collective commitment to solving them.
Over the past several months, Connecticut's homelessness response system has been navigating a period of extraordinary complexity. Providers continue to respond to rising homelessness, increasing housing costs, workforce shortages, and growing demand for services. At the same time, uncertainty surrounding federal policy and funding has created new concerns about the future of many of the resources our communities rely upon.
Yet despite these challenges, our campaign continues to move forward.
This spring, advocates from across all seven Coordinated Access Networks came together to ensure homelessness remained a priority issue during the legislative session. Together, we elevated the experiences of providers, people with lived expertise, and communities throughout Connecticut. We secured important policy victories, protected critical investments, and strengthened relationships with policymakers who increasingly understand that homelessness is not simply a housing issue, but also a public health, educational, economic, and community issue.
These successes matter. But they are not the reason we do this work.
The reason we do this work is simple: every person deserves a safe and stable place to call home.
At this year's Annual Training Institute, we heard a powerful message echoed by national leaders, providers, advocates, and people with lived expertise alike. Homelessness is not inevitable. Communities can reduce homelessness when they invest in housing, prevention, outreach, coordinated response systems, and strong partnerships. But doing so requires us to remain focused on the people behind the data and the systems we are working to improve.
Every day across Connecticut, outreach teams engage people living outside. Shelter staff provide safety during moments of crisis. Housing specialists help people navigate increasingly challenging housing markets. Case managers help families avoid eviction, reconnect with supports, and move toward stability. These efforts may look different from community to community, but they are all connected by a shared purpose: bringing our neighbors inside.
As the updates in this digest demonstrate, our campaign continues to advance that work in many ways. Committees are strengthening Coordinated Entry practices, improving system workflows, addressing barriers to housing, cultivating landlord partnerships, advancing public policy, and identifying opportunities for greater statewide alignment. At the same time, campaign leaders are asking important questions about governance, communication, accountability, and how we continue building a homelessness response system capable of meeting both today's challenges and tomorrow's opportunities.
I believe these conversations reflect a campaign that is growing stronger.
As CT CAN has evolved, so too has our responsibility to one another. The work ahead will require us to continue listening, collaborating, and balancing urgent crisis response with long-term systems change. It will require us to strengthen alignment across providers, Continuums of Care, backbone organizations, municipalities, state agencies, and community partners. Most importantly, it will require us to remain grounded in the reason we came together in the first place.
Every committee meeting, every policy discussion, every housing placement, every outreach interaction, and every act of advocacy is connected by a common goal: ensuring that homelessness is rare, brief, and non-recurring in Connecticut.
Thank you for the leadership, expertise, and partnership you bring to this work every day. CT CAN End Homelessness is successful because of the people who continue to show up, share their knowledge, challenge one another, and remain committed to a vision larger than any single organization.
Together, we have made meaningful progress. Together, we will continue strengthening our systems, expanding housing opportunities, and bringing our neighbors inside.
Sarah Fox, MSW
Chief Executive Officer
Connecticut Coalition to End Homelessness
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HUD has proposed changes to its Equal Access Rule that would redefine sex as sex assigned at birth and remove references to gender identity in HUD-funded shelter and housing programs. Advocates warn the changes could create additional barriers to shelter and housing access for LGBTQIA+ individuals, increase unsheltered homelessness, separate family members during shelter placement, and raise safety concerns.
In Connecticut, the proposal could create conflicts with existing nondiscrimination practices, increase administrative burdens for providers, and complicate shelter access and placement procedures. HUD is accepting public comments through June 29, 2026. Providers, advocates, community members, and individuals with lived experience are encouraged to share feedback on how the proposed changes may impact Connecticut's homelessness response system.
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Steering Committee Updates:
The CT CAN Steering Committee's April and May meetings focused on strengthening both the campaign's external advocacy efforts and its internal coordination. In April, members discussed the Week of Action, state budget and legislative priorities, HUD funding delays affecting expiring grants, and opportunities to use Coordinated Entry evaluation findings to inform system improvements. By May, the committee reflected on recent legislative successes and the Annual Training Institute while identifying opportunities to strengthen campaign infrastructure and collaboration.
Across both meetings, members emphasized the need for clearer communication, stronger decision-making processes, improved accountability, and better alignment among CT CAN, providers, backbone organizations, and Continuums of Care. The committee also discussed the importance of developing a stronger public narrative, increasing transparency in governance, balancing urgent crisis response with long-term systems change, and setting realistic expectations given provider capacity.
A key structural update announced in May was the creation of a reimagined monthly Leadership Meeting, which will bring together Steering Committee co-chairs and homelessness response system representatives who serve on the state Interagency Council on Homelessness. The meeting will take place before each Steering Committee meeting to support agenda development, information sharing, and cross-system alignment. The next Steering Committee meeting will be held on June 26, 2026, at 10:00 a.m. at the United Way of Greater New Haven.
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Coordinated Entry and Outreach Committee Updates:
The Coordinated Entry and Outreach Subcommittee reviewed progress on the 71 recommendations developed to strengthen Connecticut’s Coordinated Entry system. The CT CAN Steering Committee has prioritized three key focus areas: improving HMIS referral workflows, enhancing 211 workflows, and clarifying Coordinated Entry roles and documentation requirements. Dedicated workgroups with representatives from DHMAS, the Department of Housing, and ACT are advancing this work with the goal of creating greater consistency in CAN operations and HMIS documentation statewide.
The committee also discussed the many pathways through which individuals access Coordinated Entry services, including 211, HUB walk-ins, street outreach, youth navigators, community referrals, and direct system referrals. Members emphasized the importance of consistent documentation practices across all entry points and identified ongoing challenges related to overlapping staff roles and varying documentation procedures. The group agreed that clearer role definitions, simplified workflows, and reduced reliance on external tracking tools would help improve consistency and data quality across the system.
During HMIS updates, the committee reviewed concerns regarding the wording of the “prior zip code” question and discussed challenges related to sharing case notes across CAN regions. DHMAS and ACT are reviewing allowable information-sharing practices, and both topics will be revisited at future meetings. The meeting concluded with the completion of a forthcoming Coordinated Entry Staff Survey designed to gather frontline feedback, identify system challenges, and inform future HMIS and workflow improvements. Additional feedback will be collected statewide through June 12 before the survey is finalized for broader distribution.
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Policy & Advocacy Updates:
The Policy & Advocacy Committee spent April and May focused on legislative advocacy as the General Assembly entered final budget negotiations and bill votes. During a Week of Action in Hartford, the committee joined with 22 organizations and more than 100 participants to engage legislators and their staff in conversations about homelessness, housing instability, and the need for sustained investment in providers and the communities they serve. Members also participated in the Connecticut Nonprofit Alliance Rally at the Capitol to amplify these efforts.
Following the close of the legislative session on May 6, the committee celebrated several advocacy successes. While budget allocations fell short of the coalition's original requests, existing biennium funding was maintained through FY27 and some new funding was secured. The committee also highlighted the passage of three priority bills addressing extreme weather response planning, protocols for responding to homelessness on state-owned property, and protections that help students experiencing homelessness remain connected to their schools.
Looking ahead, the committee will focus on awareness-building, training opportunities, and cultivating legislative champions to advance homelessness policy priorities. Members are encouraged to join monthly P&A Committee meetings to stay engaged and informed.
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Youth and Young Adult (YYA) Updates:
At the May 12, 2026 meeting, the CCEH & CT CAN Homeless Youth and Young Adult Subcommittee focused on developing a governance structure that strengthens the role of youth with lived expertise in shared decision-making while clarifying committee responsibilities and accountability within Connecticut’s broader homelessness response system. Members reviewed and discussed three proposed governance models - delegated authority, shared governance, and a systems coordination hub - but did not reach a final decision.
The committee also continued conversations about balancing youth leadership, system integration, and cross-sector collaboration. Next steps include a community engagement event scheduled for July 14 and a follow-up poll that will help inform the committee’s final governance direction.
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Exit Updates:
The Exit Subcommittee announced new leadership for the committee, with Rachael Hamilton of Connecticut Coalition Against Domestic Violence (CCADV) serving as co-chair.
The committee also launched a new Landlord Engagement Subgroup, which will meet on the first Friday of each month. The subgroup is focused on strengthening partnerships among landlord engagement specialists, housing coordinators, CANs, outreach teams, landlords, and property managers to increase access to safe, stable housing for individuals and families exiting homelessness.
| | 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. | | |
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: June 12, 12:00 - 1:00 PM
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Policy and Advocacy Subcommittee
The Policy & Advocacy Committee leads the statewide advocacy efforts of the Homeless Response System throughout the calendar year.
Date: June 16, 12:30 - 2:00 PM
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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: June 25, 12:00 - 1:00 PM
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Youth and Young Adult Subcommittee
The Policy & Advocacy Committee leads the statewide advocacy efforts of the Homeless Response System throughout the calendar year.
Date: July 14, 1:30 PM - 2:30 PM
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