providence rhode capital island mitigation social worker

At the helm of that movement is Leilani Farha, founder and Global Director of the Shift, an organization working to help more communities and countries establish a right to housing.Īt the first plenary session of CCEH’s Housing Equals Justice conference, Ms. Although the bill did not pass (the legislative session came to a halt due to the COVID-19 pandemic), its introduction was an important first step in having Connecticut join a global movement to secure a right to housing.

These intersections compel us to ask: Is the next frontier of criminal justice reform to improve housing access and equity? During this plenary panel, national experts and state leaders will engage in a rich conversation on this question, discussing the relationship between policing, criminal justice involvement, homelessness, housing access, and segregation.Ĭonnecticut Office of Policy and Managementĭuring the 2019 state legislative session, State Senator Saud Anwar introduced Senate Bill 105, An Act Establishing a Right to Housing, articulating a state government obligation to protect Connecticut residents from eviction and housing loss, to assist people out of homelessness, and to reduce rent burdens. Many believe that these disparities and challenges stem from issues that relate to housing access: the criminalization of homelessness, the lack of housing options for people leaving the criminal justice system, and residential segregation that results in disparities in policing patterns and outcomes. While Connecticut has made significant criminal justice reforms in the last several years-leading to significant reductions in incarceration levels-Connecticut continues to see significant racial disparities in its criminal justice system, as well as continuing challenges with meeting re-entry needs among people leaving prisons.

KEYNOTE: Justice Starts at Home: A Conversation on Criminal Justice, Housing, and Segregation This workshop will discuss how health fears have served as a barrier to helping people experiencing homelessness confront and address health issues, as well as on strategies to empower clients to overcome fears and confront their health needs.Ĭonnecticut Coalition to End Homelessness While these fears and anxiety are understandable-people experiencing homelessness are already under significant stress and also worry about how they will manage health conditions given their lack of stable housing-they nevertheless serve as barriers to getting people the care and treatment they need to improve their health status. At the same time, people experiencing homelessness have had many of the same fears and anxiety with COVID-19 testing that they have exhibited when faced with testing and health monitoring for other health conditions-from cancer to HIV/AIDS to Hepatitis C.

The COVID-19 pandemic has made even clearer that the key to health is regular health monitoring, screening, and testing. What You Don’t Know CAN Hurt You: Helping Clients Face Their Health Fears Following her presentation, national housing policy experts, Ann Oliva and Jill Khadduri, will describe policy solutions and opportunities at the state and federal levels to help communities avoid reaching this tipping point and thereby keep rates of homelessness low.

Cheryl Young, Senior Economist at Zillow, will present Zillow’s research linking rising rents and homelessness, discuss the state of the rental market in Connecticut, and suggest steps that Connecticut can take to address rising rents to prevent increases in homelessness. While Connecticut has not yet reached this tipping point, rents in Connecticut have been trending in this direction. Specifically, Zillow’s research has found that homelessness increases in communities when average rents in that community rise above 32% of average household income. Although it has long been assumed that homelessness is primarily due to the lack of affordable housing, research conducted by Zillow has found a clear link between rates of homelessness and rising rents.

Providence rhode capital island mitigation social worker