Connecticut Coalition to End Homelessness

At the local level, data collected will be used by the local Continuums of Care in their annual applications to HUD for homeless assistance funding. It will also be useful to the Ten Year Plans to End Homelessness that have been developed in five local Connecticut communities.
The Point-In-Time Count 2009 will increase the public's awareness of the problem of homelessness.
The coordinated volunteer efforts on the evening of the actual count and the data collected will draw attention to the extent of the problem.
The count will be a physical count-in communities throughout the state, of homeless persons who are staying in shelters or transitional housing programs, or who are unsheltered and are staying on the street, living in a car, or who stay in the woods or other places not meant for people to live.
The count will collect baseline data that will assist in assessing progress toward achieving the goal of reducing (and ending) homelessness.
The data will identify and quantify some of the disabling health conditions of chronically homeless people, which will help plan future services to meet the needs of homeless individuals and families.
Advocates across the state will use this statewide data on homelessness to help with continuing advocacy efforts to secure needed resources.

The statewide Point-In-Time Count 2008 is being coordinated by the Connecticut Coalition to End Homelessness, the Corporation for Supportive Housing, and the Reaching Home Campaign.
At the local level, 12 Continuums of Care across the state are coordinating the local counts in the towns and cities in their areas. These Continuums of Care are experienced in these counts, and have conducted their own individual point-in-time counts for the past several years.
Continuums of Care are local social service organizations, government agencies, businesses and other concerned stakeholders that participate in local homeless assistance program planning networks and apply for and receive homelessness assistance grants from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). They work together to coordinate their efforts to address housing and homelessness issues and reduce homelessness in their local communities.