Homelessness is getting worse

If you’re hanging out in New Haven, you’ve probably felt like there are more people sleeping on the streets than in the past.  Your perception reflects reality, and not just for our city, but all across the state, and indeed the country. There are currently 405 individuals and eight families in Greater New Haven who are on the waitlist to get into shelter.  Even during the coldest months of the year, we continue to have too few options for people to get in off the streets and find warmth and safety.  Faced with federal cuts to the proven practices of reducing homelessness by providing unhoused people with housing, we are anticipating these numbers to nearly double this winter, as DESK’s services for unsheltered people become a matter of life and death. Meanwhile, cities nationwide have seen stepped up aggression toward unhoused people.  Despite the evidence that strategies rooted in compassion have greater success of getting people housed, many municipalities have been opting for law enforcement approaches, emboldened by last year’s Supreme Court ruling in Grants Pass v. Johnson.

Public health is getting worse

Connecticut generally and New Haven specifically have a long history of providing proven, best-practice services to people who use drugs.  In the 1990s, New Haven piloted one of the first syringe service programs as a highly effective means of reducing rates of infectious disease (particularly HIV) and creating pathways to trust, treatment, and recovery.  Now those harm reduction models are under attack by federal authorities who reject science and seek to reinvigorate the “war on drugs” policies that targeted our Black and brown communities and failed all of us.  Because of these cooperative, responsible, and well-funded services, New Haven has seen falling rates of fatal overdoses in the last five years.  But despite the ample evidence, public funders are now shying away from what we know works for political reasons.  As these funding sources disappear, it will be up to community-based organizations like DESK to ensure that people get the services they need to remain safe and healthy.

So what do we do?

For almost 40 years, DESK has been fighting an uphill battle against homelessness and poverty.  We do this because we believe that we, as a community, can do better.  We haven’t always been on the same page as our political leaders.  Some-times, our elected officials have turned away from the compassionate approaches and best practices that we know work.  When that happens, we look toward community—our neighbors—to step up.

Your support is critical to ensuring that everyone in New Haven has the opportunity to access basic needs.

Join me today in giving to DESK.  Step up to the need that is facing us on our streets.  Together, we can ensure that we will someday end hunger and homelessness with compassionate and proven strategies. Donate online at deskct.org/stepup.

And thank you as always!

Yours in service,

P.S.  Are you in a position to give through retirement savings, securities, or planned giving?  Learn more about how you can be part of DESK’s Legacy Society at deskct.org/legacy.