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What the city took away, the state has made up — for now.
New Reach, a not-for-profit group that runs three emergency shelters in New Haven for homeless women and children, just received that news.
It learned that it has received a one-time $260,000 grant from the state Department of Housing (DOH)‘s Community Investment Account to use over two years. The purpose: “to maintain its shelter operation with no interruptions in service.”
That money fills a gap that opened last month when the city cut New Reach’s annual grant by $129,725 as part of a Harp administration rethinking of how it spends government money to help the homeless.
The money “gives us a reprieve,” New Reach chief Kellyann Day (pictured)said Tuesday.
The reprieve means that New Reach doesn’t have to consider shutting any shelters for now, she said.
The group will use the reprieve to “rethink” its operations — and either develop new funding strategies for existing shelters, or convert one of the shelters to, say, supportive housing (long-term housing with on-site services to prevent people from returning to the streets). Homeless agencies nationwide are working on ending chronic homelessness by 2020 with more of an emphasis on such long-term housing.
The state grant doesn’t eliminate the pressure on New Reach to continue raising money in the short — it still has a deficit of more than $400,000 to fill.
“From ending homelessness to driving high school graduation rates to record highs, from making historic investments in transportation to driving down the unemployment rate to a seven-year low, we are no doubt making progress as a state. And keeping this shelter open today helps us build a better Connecticut tomorrow,” Gov. Dannel P. Malloy was quoted as saying in a press release from his office.