Connecticut homeless population grew for 4th year in a row, report finds
Experts say more than 700 homeless people are living in Fairfield County.
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A new report says Connecticut's homeless population has grown for a fourth consecutive year.
The state's annual Point-in-Time Count report, which started collecting data earlier this year, found nearly a 10% increase in the homeless population from last year.
Pacific House does so much to help the homeless and is not surprised by the findings in this report.
"We shouldn't have any homeless people. Especially in an affluent community," said Carmen Colon, president and CEO of Pacific House in Stamford.
But experts say more than 700 homeless people are living in Fairfield County.
This latest report on the increasing homelessness in Connecticut found the largest population was adults without children, and some of the notable increases were among the older population.
"It's such a shame to see senior citizens who were waiting for retirement and now they cannot afford to live in their homes," said Colon.
She says with the price of everything going up, it is just too expensive for most people to live here because there is a lack of affordable housing.
"Common individuals, families have been priced out of rentals in the state of Connecticut…So many people can just not live here in Fairfield County," said Colon.
Connecticut gets about $95 million annually from the federal government for homelessness and housing stability. But experts fear that number is going to dwindle.
"If those dollars go away, that means that we are going to have a new population of homeless people who are currently housed," said Colon.
Gov. Ned Lamont and the state commissioner of housing will be at Pacific House Friday afternoon to break ground on 39 new units of permanent supportive housing. A small step in the right direction.
