Lamont tries streamlining services, as state resources dwindle

Hartford Courant:

“With the announcement Friday of a new interagency council on homelessness, Gov. Ned Lamont highlighted Connecticut’s many individual programmatic successes in caring for the unhoused and its failure to establish a cohesive system.

The initiative in the second year of Lamont’s second term comes as resources are shrinking, homelessness is increasing and community providers are complaining of bureaucratic obstacles to services.”

Governor announces new, centralized effort to provide

Lamont is establishing a panel of agency heads within his administration, known as the Connecticut Interagency Council on Homelessness, which will be responsible for collaborating [across agencies to] strengthen the state’s homelessness prevention and response efforts. Leaders from the following offices will serve as members:

• The Department of Housing
• The Department of Aging and Disability Services
• The Department of Children and Families
• The Department of Correction
• The Department of Labor
• The Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services
• The Department of Social Services
• The Department of Veterans Affairs
• The Office of Policy and Management
• The Court Support Services Division of the Judicial Branch
• The Connecticut Housing Finance Authority

Additionally, leaders from [these] offices will serve as ad hoc members:

• The Department of Developmental Services
• The Department of Economic and Community Development
• The Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection
• The Department of Public Health
• The Office of Early Childhood
• The State Department of Education
• The Department of Transportation
• The Department of Higher Education

The council will consist of leaders of state agencies that are responsible for housing and intervention support services, building on existing efforts from several state agencies, including the Department of Housing, the Department of Social Services, and the Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services.

“Everyone should have access to a safe, warm place to call home,” Governor Lamont said. “State and local governments, along with our nonprofit partners, need the resources available to them to ensure that fewer people face the possibility of becoming homeless. Between building new housing units, addressing mental health issues, improving access to education and health care, and increasing job support, this issue must be addressed in a holistic manner.”

SEBAC balks at spending caps, fiscal guardrails

From the Courant:

“The State Employees Bargaining Agent Coalition, which represents most unionized state employees, issued a statement commending the inter-agency effort while complaining of the governor’s refusal to seek changes in the state’s fiscal guardrails that limit spending.

The labor group said that stance will prevent the new council from offering any real solutions. “Solutions require services and services require spending,” the group said. “But with the governor’s strident application of the spending cap, he’s failing to invest in Connecticut’s future.”

More details.