Connecticut State Sen. Saud Anwar (D-CT) has a plan to better coordinate local resources to help address the state's growing homelessness crisis.
"Right now, unfortunately, what happens is that when somebody loses their home, they are asked to go to Hartford, New Haven, Bridgeport, New Britain; that’s not a strategy," Anwar said. He is the co-chair of the Public Health Committee, during a roundtable discussion with advocates at the state Legislative Office Building in Hartford on Thursday.
Along with his intern, Aliana Manji, a student of Yale’s Masters of Public Health program, Anwar has developed a toolkit to strengthen efforts to prevent homelessness in the state through municipal early intervention and coordinated support efforts.
Most homeless want to remain in their local communities.
“So perhaps there is an opportunity to have a prevention strategy and then start to see what could be done in the communities because there are more opportunities there,” Anwar said.
He added that keeping people in their homes is more cost-effective than providing services when they are homeless.
More than half of the renters in Connecticut pay more than they can comfortably afford on housing, with 1 in 4 spending more than half their income on housing and utilities, according to surveys.
