HOMELESSNESS: Some statistics. Is the proverbial glass half empty or half full?. How does rental
market relate?
Which
came first
the chicken or the egg? Explore relationship between two issues -
affordable housing and equal educational
opportunity...CT homelessness?
HOMELESS AND COVID-19:
https://nypost.com/2020/05/14/homeless-seen-sleeping-inches-from-each-other-on-shelter-stairs/
Bridgeport can lead the way
CT can be critical in bringing this matter to the public's attention -
what is the impact of COVID-19 on the homeless and why does this matter
to the rest of society?
http://connecticut.news12.com/story/41937973/bridgeport-city-councilman-spearheads-opening-emergency-homeless-shelter-to-curb-spread-of-covid19
CALIFORNIA DREAMING DEPARTMENT: https://www.latimes.com/opinion/editorials/la-ed-fair-share-housing-scag-20190621-story.html
And previously...as far back as 2004...
Fumes from generator in basement
sickens 10
CT POST
Updated 09:10 p.m., Saturday,
January 7, 2012
BRIDGEPORT -- A potentially deadly
situation was narrowly avoided early Saturday when 10 people fell ill
from carbon monoxide poisoning on the top floor of an apartment house
in the city's Hollow section...
"We urge anyone who is having
trouble paying their utility bills to contact our Social Services
department so we can try to help them."
According to the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention, the most common symptoms of CO poisoning are
headaches, dizziness, weakness, nausea, vomiting, chest pain, and
confusion. High levels of CO inhalation can cause loss of consciousness
and death.
People who are sleeping or
intoxicated can die from CO poisoning before experiencing symptoms.
The CDC said red blood cells pick up
CO quicker than they pick up oxygen, because the CO molecule "wants" to
become its more stable chemical cousin, carbon dioxide.
If there is a lot of CO in the air,
the body may replace oxygen in blood with CO. This blocks oxygen from
getting into the body, which can damage tissues and result in death.
According to the Consumer Product
Safety Commission, an average of 170 people die every year in the
United States as a result of unintentional carbon monoxide poisoning.
In 2005 alone, the CPSC reported
that there were 94 carbon monoxide poisoning deaths attributed to home
generators.
Point-In-Time Count: Number Of Homeless Families In Rural/Suburban
Connecticut Up 33 Percent From Last Year
The Hartford Courant
By MONICA POLANCO
September 28, 2009
HARTFORD
The number of homeless families in
Connecticut's rural and suburban areas rose by at least 33 percent from
2008 to 2009, and many of them said the high cost of rental housing was
to blame.
The news, released last week by the
Connecticut Coalition to End Homelessness, is part of a national trend
and confirms what local experts feared after volunteers canvassed the
state Jan. 28 to count the number of people living in shelters and
outdoors. This year's snapshot, while valuable to homeless advocates,
might underestimate the full extent of the problem because it does not
record changes throughout the year, said Carol Walter, executive
director of the Connecticut Coalition to End Homelessness. Volunteers
counted 4,154 homeless people in the state just over half of them
single adults...
Number of homeless in Conn. decreases
Posted in the New London DAY on Sep 28,
6:28 AM EDT
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) -- A new report says the number of homeless people
in Connecticut has dropped in the past year, except in rural and
suburban areas.
The survey by the Connecticut Coalition to End Homelessness found 4,154
homeless people during a statewide canvass at the end of January, down
from 4,221 last year.
But researchers saw an increase in homeless families in rural and
suburban areas for the first time since they began the survey three
years ago, as required by the federal Department of Housing and Urban
Development.
The coalition says it counted 61 rural and suburban homeless families
this year, up from 46 last year. The numbers may be small, but
researchers say they point to a trend as families struggle with high
rents and problems caused by the recession.
Not to depress anyone, but the latest: https://www.aboutweston.com/Education.html#sheff2018
Sheff Group Wants
More State Action; Plaintiffs File Motion For Urgent School
Desegregation Steps
DAY
By Associated Press
Published on 7/7/2007
Hartford (AP) Connecticut's landmark
school desegregation case, Sheff vs. O'Neill, is back in court in the
form of a legal motion citing the failure of the legislature to approve
a tentative agreement.
Plaintiffs in the case filed
the motion in Superior court Thursday saying they can wait no longer
for the legislature to act on a plan that would require the state to
take aggressive new steps to reduce racial isolation in Hartford's
public schools.
Time is wasting, and kids
are not being properly educated, Wesley W. Horton, a lawyer for the
plaintiffs, said after filing the motion...
The state Supreme Court
ruled in 1996 that racial, ethnic and economic isolation in Hartford
schools was unconstitutional.
The original case was
brought in 1989 on behalf of Milo Sheff, who was then a 10-year-old
student in Hartford's Annie Fisher School.
COG Approves Funds
For Winter Shelter; Agency now turns eye to finding solutions for
regional homelessness
DAY
By Paul Choiniere
Published on 9/6/2006
Norwich The local council of governments agreed Tuesday to send Sound
Community Services $18,249 to offset the cost of running an emergency
homeless shelter in New London last winter, ending contentious
negotiations that sullied the regional attempt to help the homeless.
The leader of the Southeastern Connecticut Council of Governments is
hoping the council's next involvement in the issue a regional plan to
end homelessness will be more comprehensive and less controversial...
Editorial
from CT POST Wednesday, October 06, 2004:
Housing
ruling
beneficial to state
When federal
housing officials reversed course last month and abandoned a
controversial
plan to change the way rental subsidies are determined, they did a
considerable
favor for hundreds of families in southwestern Connecticut.
Officials were
considering changing the way the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban
Development
calculates the Fair Market Rent (FMR) for the region. Some had
proposed
basing the region's FMRs on New Haven County's real estate market,
while
the FMRs are now based on the Bridgeport market.
FMRs are used
to determine how much HUD will pay landlords through the Section 8
housing
assistance program. That may not sound like much to the average
renter,
but it translates into more affordable dwelling space for many
residents
of southwestern Connecticut. The change would have resulted in
reduced
rental subsidies for low-income families, especially those in three-
and
four-bedroom apartments.
According to
the Connecticut Housing Coalition, 162 of 169 state municipalities
would
have received less money than before if the changes went through. More
than 500 families would have had to put more of their own money into
monthly
rent checks in the Greater Bridgeport area, according to the
Connecticut
Housing Association...
Homeless count
in Norwalk
By JILL BODACH, Norwalk Hour Staff
Writer
Monday, January 26, 2004
NORWALK -- Beginning in March, members
of local service agencies will begin to count a segment of the
population
that is often difficult to quantify with specific numbers and
statistics.
However, the fact that these individuals are difficult to put a number
on is the exact reason they are the subject of the count. The
individuals
are the homeless adults and children who live in the greater Norwalk
area.
The
count is being conducted by The
Advocates Group, a task force convened by the Human Services Council
and
comprised of over 40 public and private agencies. The goal of the
count is to provide an accurate record of the number of homeless living
in this geographic area so that agencies can then develop a plan to
work
together to address the needs of the homeless...
For
more information contact the
Human Services Council at (203) 849-1111.