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.