Emergency shelter and short-term services are necessary interventions for those in crisis, but they will not address the complex problems that many homeless individuals and families face. Issues such as addiction, mental illness, and poverty have left many people homeless for multiple years (the chronically homeless). St. Vincent De Paul Place, as part of a county-wide coalition of the The Middlesex County Ten Year Plan to End Homelessness, is determined to reorient our community’s service system from one that manages the homeless to one that prevents and ends homelessness.

In 2009, we provided assistance to 16 individuals in our scatter-site apartments throughout the city.

In February 2008, St. Vincent DePaul Place received State of Connecticut funding for the Next Steps Supportive Housing Initiative, and HUD Supportive Housing Program (SHP) funding through the Middlesex County Continuum of Care. Together, these two contracts enabled us to make 15 scattered-site apartments available to the chronically homeless through a Housing First model – a model based on the belief that housing is a human right and chronically homeless people shouldn’t have to “prove that they are worthy of housing.” In fact, permanent supportive housing similar to ours has demonstrated that by providing housing first, many chronically homeless individuals begin to make significant strides to improve the quality of their lives through better health and dental care, recovery from drugs and alcohol, a willingness to receive treatment from mental health clinicians, employment, new social networks, and so on. We provide intensive case management supports to ensure that the tenants receive the services they need to remain successfully housed permanently.

Tenants who have income pay 30% of their adjusted gross income towards their monthly rent and utilities. The participant signs his/her own rental lease, the State or Federal government provides the rental subsidy, and St. Vincent DePaul Place helps to facilitate payments. The St. Vincent DePaul Place housing team provides a comprehensive tenant orientation that discusses the expectations of each lease, landlord/tenant communication skills, housekeeping, fire and security safety, basic non-violent approaches to conflict resolution, budgeting, shopping and food preparation. The case managers provide transportation to medical and mental health appointments and act as advocates for obtaining other services and entitlements.