Two people in Stamford have died from exposure, as Connecticut is held in the grip of extreme cold weather. This comes as the state is allocating funds toward emergency housing to fill the gaps left by the Trump administration.
Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont said he’ll put more than $5 million toward homelessness prevention, drawn from the state’s recently created emergency reserve to cover Trump administration cuts and delays over HUD's Continuum of Care program. It’s the same fund that’ll pay for many residents’ health insurance.
"So many families, veterans, older adults, and people with disabilities depend on the federal government’s Continuum of Care program to stay in their homes, and it is essential that these grants continue so that people do not fall into homelessness and create a potential crisis situation,” Lamont said.
The funds will cover state services for the homeless for the next six months, while federal funding is on hold indefinitely.
“What this does is it provides a sense of stability," said Sarah Fox, president of the Connecticut Coalition to End Homelessness. "These cuts coming from the federal government have shaken providers and tenants who are scared of losing their housing. For at least the next six months, the state has stepped in. We're hopeful that they will continue to do so. Although this is funding that should and must come from the federal government.”
Unsheltered homelessness is up by about 45% in the last year in Connecticut, according to the United Way.
“Unsheltered homelessness takes a terrible toll on people, at no time more so than when it is as bitterly cold as we have seen lately," United Way's Lisa Tepper Bates said.
She said a housing shortage — nationwide, but especially bad in Connecticut — must be alleviated to solve the problem.
“There's an incredible workforce of people working in our shelter system, but they can't find housing if it doesn't exist," she said. "And what they are up against right now is a terrible lack of housing options for people who are extremely low income.”
This winter's extreme temperatures have already claimed two lives in the state. In Stamford last weekend, a 50-year-old woman was found dead at a bus stop on East Main Street. Around the same time, police found a 52-year-old man dead just blocks away at Cummings Park. The wind chill was around 10 degrees.
