Services To The Homeless

Contact:  John Huettner,
Special Projects Director
165 Church Street, 2nd Floor
Tel.  (203) 946-7583
Fax.  (203) 946-7908
e-mail:  jhuettne@newhavenct.net

MISSION:

An important mission of City of New Haven Community Services Administration is the provision of a safety net of supports and services for the City’s most fragile or vulnerable citizens.  This responsibility encompasses New Haven’s homeless singles and families.  The City of New Haven allocates resources from its’ General Fund for homeless sheltering and support services and advocates for the needs of the City’s homeless.

HOMELESS ADVISORY COMMISSION:

The purpose of the Homeless Advisory Commission is to provide advice to the Mayor and the Board of Aldermen concerning the problems of homeless individuals and families and to make recommendations as to proposed solutions.  The membership of the Commission includes providers of homeless services, homeless and recently homeless representatives, homeless advocates, citizen members from the community-at-large, city departments and representatives of the Board of Aldermen, with staffing provided by the City’s Community Services Administration.  Members are recommended by the Mayor and approved by the full Board of Aldermen.

The Commission was established and seated in October 1999.  Under the leadership of its’ Chair, Gary F. Spinner, the Commission meets monthly and has accomplished the following:

            +  Development of and the holding of a twelve week training course for the staffs
                of emergency homeless shelters.

            +  Development of an emergency homeless shelter Length of Stay Policy to
                address the need to more effectively move homeless clients from lengthy
                shelter stays to independent living.

            +  Serves as a public forum for those interested in issues regarding homelessness
                and offers testimony to state and local legislative bodies on these issues.
            +  Delegated by the Mayor to develop a ten-year plan to end chronic
                 homelessness in New Haven and oversaw the development of:  The New
                 Haven Ten-Year Plan to End Chronic Homelessness.  This was accomplished
                 by the creation of a community-wide Steering Committee, with a public forum
                 and six focus groups held in a variety of locations with homeless consumers.
                 The plan was presented to the greater New Haven community by Mayor John
                 DeStefano, Jr., in December 2005.

            +  Charged with the oversight of implementation of the ten-year, along with the
                Community Services Administration, which is responsible for actual
                 implementation activities.

To view The New Haven Ten-Year Plan to End Chronic Homelessness, please Click.

The Plan is a PDF file.  In order to view, you must have installed a copy of Adobe Acrobat® Reader