STATISTICS AND HEADLINE-WRITING (glass half empty or half full?):  Or not yet completed?  Foreclosed?  Rental market...
"A HOUSE IS NOT A HOME"    Which came first the chicken or the egg?  Relationship between two issues - affordable housing and equal educational opportunity...how about homelessness?

Fumes from generator in basement sickens 10
CT POST
Updated 09:10 p.m., Saturday, January 7, 2012

BRIDGEPORT -- A potentially deadly situation was narrowly avoided early Saturday when 10 people fell ill from carbon monoxide poisoning on the top floor of an apartment house in the city's Hollow section.

According to Assistant Fire Chief Ivan Fossesigurani, the incident began to unfold Friday night when rescue units and EMTs responded to 232 Madison Ave., an older, three-story apartment house, to aid an unresponsive child.

The child was transported to St. Vincent's Medical Center. But, not finding anything else amiss, firefighters returned to Fire Headquarters on Congress Street.

Then at about 1 a.m. Saturday, the Fire Department and EMTs were summoned again to the same address on a complaint of a strong smell of fumes and also that several people in the home had taken ill.

Upon arriving at the top-floor apartment, Fossesigurani said, firefighters found a deadly concentration of about 400 parts per million of carbon monoxide.

This level will begin to produce fatalities after about four hours of exposure, according to the federal Consumer Product Safety Commission. High CO concentrations were also found on the second and first floor of the house.

Fossesigurani said that 10 people were evacuated from the building, including a group of five adult males and a family of five that included a mother and father, another adult female, and a girl and a boy.

Five men were taken to St. Vincent's, while the remaining five occupants were taken to Bridgeport Hospital. Some of them were released by midday on Saturday, and it's believed that all of them will survive the ordeal without any long-lasting effects.

Fossesigurani said he spoke with some of the victims at the hospital, and most appeared to be incoherent, at least at first.

The carbon monoxide was coming from a gasoline-powered generator running in the basement. "It had been running for about eight days," Fossesigurani said.

Firefighters immediately forced the cellar door open and shut off the generator.

"This is what happens when people can't pay their electricity bill. But the city does have a Department of Social Services than can help them out," Fossesigurani said. "Unfortunately, because of federal cuts in social services funding, we've had trouble getting the word out.

He said that Bridgeport residents who find themselves with utility cutoff notices in the winter should call 211, which is the Department of Social Services help line.

The three-family house, constructed in 1910, is owned by Freddy and Carmen Tavarez according to city records. Fossesigurani said that the owners told fire investigators that the tenants should have been moved out of the building some days ago.

The home is near Columbus School, at the southern end of Madison Avenue.

Operating a generator in a house can be deadly because odorless carbon monoxide fumes can build up in poorly vented areas.

Both Bridgeport Mayor Bill Finch and Fire Chief Brian Rooney said the incident underscores the dangers of carbon monoxide and the need for people to take precaution.

"Carbon monoxide is a silent killer," said Rooney of the colorless gas that can seep through a home from a broken furnace or from the improper use of generators, improperly vented wood stoves or gas stoves.

"Never use a generator inside your home, basement, garage or near a window, door or vent," Rooney added.

In addition to smoke alarms on every floor, carbon monoxide detectors, which can be purchased at a hardware stores, should be installed on every living floor in a single-family or multi-family home.

"We've been lucky so far, that this year the winter has been relatively mild," said Finch. We know, however, there are people struggling in this economy to make ends meet.

"We urge anyone who is having trouble paying their utility bills to contact our Social Services department so we can try to help them."

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the most common symptoms of CO poisoning are headaches, dizziness, weakness, nausea, vomiting, chest pain, and confusion. High levels of CO inhalation can cause loss of consciousness and death.

People who are sleeping or intoxicated can die from CO poisoning before experiencing symptoms.

The CDC said red blood cells pick up CO quicker than they pick up oxygen, because the CO molecule "wants" to become its more stable chemical cousin, carbon dioxide.

If there is a lot of CO in the air, the body may replace oxygen in blood with CO. This blocks oxygen from getting into the body, which can damage tissues and result in death.

According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, an average of 170 people die every year in the United States as a result of unintentional carbon monoxide poisoning.

In 2005 alone, the CPSC reported that there were 94 carbon monoxide poisoning deaths attributed to home generators.


Point-In-Time Count: Number Of Homeless Families In Rural/Suburban Connecticut Up 33 Percent From Last Year
The Hartford Courant
By MONICA POLANCO
September 28, 2009

HARTFORD —

The number of homeless families in Connecticut's rural and suburban areas rose by at least 33 percent from 2008 to 2009, and many of them said the high cost of rental housing was to blame.

The news, released last week by the Connecticut Coalition to End Homelessness, is part of a national trend and confirms what local experts feared after volunteers canvassed the state Jan. 28 to count the number of people living in shelters and outdoors. This year's snapshot, while valuable to homeless advocates, might underestimate the full extent of the problem because it does not record changes throughout the year, said Carol Walter, executive director of the Connecticut Coalition to End Homelessness. Volunteers counted 4,154 homeless people in the state — just over half of them single adults.

The third annual point-in-time count, required by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, showed that a significant number of working families became homeless because of rental costs, and that many of the families' adults have at least a high school diploma, Walter said. Nearly 60 percent of those adults said they had no history of hospitalizations for mental illness or substance abuse, while more single homeless adults reported being hospitalized for those reasons.

The count also showed homelessness decreasing in urban areas, which might be a sign that permanent supportive housing programs — which provide social services and employment assistance — are helping, Walter said.

Overall, the number of homeless people fell from 4,221 last year to 4,154 this year. The number of homeless families fell from 482 last year to 430 this year.

Those numbers suggest that homelessness is decreasing, but a review of the past three years of point-in-time counts shows that homelessness in Connecticut has "hit a plateau that is too high," Walter said. She predicted that the number of homeless people will rise.

She also acknowledged that the point-in-time numbers are just one tool to measure homelessness and should not be used alone, but said the accumulation of that data over the past three years has given her group a fuller picture of the problem in Connecticut.

For the first time this year, analysts saw a sharp increase in family homelessness in rural and suburban areas. Volunteers counted 61 homeless families this year, up from 46 last year.

Those numbers are relatively small, but they point to a trend that could increase as families continue to struggle under the weight of high rents and problems brought on by the recession, said Natalie Matthews, assistant director of the Connecticut Coalition to End Homelessness.

"Traditionally, homelessness has been viewed as an urban problem and something for major cities to handle on their own," Matthews said. "It's going to become less and less plausible for folks to say, 'It's not something that affects my community.'"

Connecticut leaders must create more homelessness prevention programs, affordable housing and subsidized housing vouchers for the poor, Walter said. Those solutions, she said, are cheaper than housing people in shelters.

"We know a lot about what's working in Connecticut," she said. "I think it's a matter of making the commitment to invest in our future."

Some additional help is on the way. This fall, the state Department of Social Services will begin distributing nearly $17 million in federal money to programs statewide for homelessness prevention and rapid re-housing. Rapid re-housing is designed to keep those in danger of becoming homeless out of shelters by providing various short-term and medium-term services, including help paying back utilities, rent or housing court disputes.

This year's count took place on a cold, wet wintry day — the kind of weather that often prompts homeless people to stay with friends or relatives rather than trudge back to a shelter, Walter said.

Of the families interviewed that day, 78 percent reported having a source of income and 60 percent of the adults in families reported having at least a high school diploma. Forty-three percent of families told volunteers that they had to leave their residences because of rent problems or evictions.

There are nearly 4,400 supportive housing units in more than 80 urban and suburban communities throughout the state, but Walter said that many more are needed. A statewide campaign called Reaching Home aims to build 10,000 permanent supportive housing units by 2014.

In January, shelters throughout the state averaged a 101 percent occupancy rate.

"That is a very frightening statistic," Walter said. "When you're at even 80 percent [capacity], you essentially don't have an emergency shelter because that means you're full."

Copyright © 2009, The Hartford Courant

Number of homeless in Conn. decreases

Posted on Sep 28, 6:28 AM EDT

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) -- A new report says the number of homeless people in Connecticut has dropped in the past year, except in rural and suburban areas.

The survey by the Connecticut Coalition to End Homelessness found 4,154 homeless people during a statewide canvass at the end of January, down from 4,221 last year.

But researchers saw an increase in homeless families in rural and suburban areas for the first time since they began the survey three years ago, as required by the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development.

The coalition says it counted 61 rural and suburban homeless families this year, up from 46 last year. The numbers may be small, but researchers say they point to a trend as families struggle with high rents and problems caused by the recession.
Sheff Group Wants More State Action; Plaintiffs File Motion For Urgent School Desegregation Steps
DAY
By Associated Press       
Published on 7/7/2007

Hartford (AP) — Connecticut's landmark school desegregation case, Sheff vs. O'Neill, is back in court in the form of a legal motion citing the failure of the legislature to approve a tentative agreement.

Plaintiffs in the case filed the motion in Superior court Thursday saying they can wait no longer for the legislature to act on a plan that would require the state to take aggressive new steps to reduce racial isolation in Hartford's public schools.

“Time is wasting, and kids are not being properly educated,” Wesley W. Horton, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, said after filing the motion.

A 4-year-old settlement in the case failed to reach its goals and expired last week. The state and the Sheff plaintiffs reached a tentative agreement in late May that would establish new goals and extend the settlement.

The proposed extension calls on the state to spend millions of dollars more over the next five years to subsidize magnet schools, charter schools and other programs aiming at increasing integration.

The legal motion filed Thursday would have little effect if the legislature approves the tentative settlement, but lawmakers said they will need more time to review the proposed settlement before voting later this month.

“We received this settlement ... less than 48 hours before the adjournment of the regular session,” state Sen. Thomas Gaffey, co-chairman of the legislature's Education Committee, said. “To expect the General Assembly to take this up when we're grappling with the state budget in that short a time frame is absolutely unreasonable.”

The state Supreme Court ruled in 1996 that racial, ethnic and economic isolation in Hartford schools was unconstitutional.

The original case was brought in 1989 on behalf of Milo Sheff, who was then a 10-year-old student in Hartford's Annie Fisher School.
COG Approves Funds For Winter Shelter;  Agency now turns eye to finding solutions for regional homelessness
DAY
By Paul Choiniere
Published on 9/6/2006   
 
Norwich — The local council of governments agreed Tuesday to send Sound Community Services $18,249 to offset the cost of running an emergency homeless shelter in New London last winter, ending contentious negotiations that sullied the regional attempt to help the homeless.

The leader of the Southeastern Connecticut Council of Governments is hoping the council's next involvement in the issue —a regional plan to end homelessness — will be more comprehensive and less controversial.

Sound Community Services, a nonprofit agency, asked the regional council nearly a year ago for financial support of up to $25,000, should the agency run short of funds to operate the shelter in New London. The winter-only shelter provided an overnight haven for homeless adults seeking to escape the cold. The agency stepped forward to operate the shelter last winter after deep cuts in human services spending in New London raised the prospect of no emergency refuge.

In an unprecedented move, the council of governments, which normally gives financial support only to regional initiatives, agreed to provide funding as a last resort if all other normal sources of aid had been tapped. Elected officials from across the region who sit on the COG acknowledged that homelessness was a regional issue that falls most heavily on the urban centers.

Things turned contentious, however, when the homeless shelter budget ballooned from the $75,238 originally presented to the COG to about $110,000. The agency contended the higher costs in staffing and supplies were justified and unforeseen, but the regional council balked at a request for $23,066 to help cover a budget shortfall.

The matter was settled when the shelter operators agreed to reduce the request to $18,249. That reflected a drop in the reimbursement for administrative overhead, a figure that the COG had felt was too high. The regional council's executive committee approved the reduced expenditure Monday.

“Pay it and be done with it,” said City of Groton Mayor Dennis Popp.

“It was a learning experience,” said Bozrah First Selectman Keith Robbins, currently the chairman of the regional council. “I think someone else coming in for similar help will face a tougher fight because of this.”

That said, Robbins said he still feels there is support for a regional attack on the homelessness problem. But it has to be comprehensive, he said, not a matter of coming to the assistance of a troubled program in a specific town.

The council should be provided that opportunity when a steering committee, formed in April, releases its 10-year plan to end homelessness in the region. The committee is scheduled to release its plan in November, after Election Day but before Thanksgiving, said Andrew Maynard, warden of the Borough of Stonington.

Maynard sits on the COG Executive Committee and is co-chairman of the committee preparing the homeless plan. He is also running for the state Senate as the Democratic candidate in the 18th District.

While Maynard said he could not provide details until the formal report is submitted, he would say that it will call for a comprehensive approach, with all municipalities in the region called upon to play some part.

It will be based on the model provided by the “community care teams” in Norwich, where representatives of various public and private human service agencies meet regularly to sketch out specific plans to meet the needs of individuals or families facing homelessness. The plan is also expected to call for more “supportive housing,” giving individuals the counseling support they need to deal with problems of addiction and mental health, Maynard said.

Meanwhile the problem of how to address the needs of homeless people in the New London area next winter has not yet been addressed. Sound Community Services has said it will focus on its primary mission of helping people with mental illness and will not run the shelter this coming winter. A task force of various church and human service groups has been meeting to come up with an alternative plan.

Editorial from CT POST Wednesday, October 06, 2004:
Housing ruling beneficial to state

When federal housing officials reversed course last month and abandoned a controversial plan to change the way rental subsidies are determined, they did a considerable favor for hundreds of families in southwestern Connecticut.

Officials were considering changing the way the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development calculates the Fair Market Rent (FMR) for the region.  Some had proposed basing the region's FMRs on New Haven County's real estate market, while the FMRs are now based on the Bridgeport market.

FMRs are used to determine how much HUD will pay landlords through the Section 8 housing assistance program.  That may not sound like much to the average renter, but it translates into more affordable dwelling space for many residents of southwestern Connecticut.  The change would have resulted in reduced rental subsidies for low-income families, especially those in three- and four-bedroom apartments.

According to the Connecticut Housing Coalition, 162 of 169 state municipalities would have received less money than before if the changes went through. More than 500 families would have had to put more of their own money into monthly rent checks in the Greater Bridgeport area, according to the Connecticut Housing Association.

Put quite accurately by Carissa Riddle, executive director of the Ansonia Housing Authority, "These changes would have created real hardships for many families."

It's no secret that the cost of living in Connecticut especially the southwestern portion of the state can put a strain on the wallets of many working families.  Reining in federal spending is important. But it makes little sense for the federal government to rebuild neighborhoods in Iraq while neglecting them here.

Federal officials made the right choice in backpedaling from these proposals, which, while cutting the bloated federal budget, would have severely hurt many families in this region.

Use a reasonable blight ordinance

Most property owners understand the value of keeping their homes and property in good shape: buying a home is the largest single investment most people will make in their lives.

A well-maintained property can become a source of equity to help finance various needs in a homeowner's future.  But in any community, a certain number of property owners will not share that understanding and let their property fall into unsightly disrepair.  If they lived in a hollow in the middle of the woods, they might be able to argue that their style of living is nobody else's business.

But people who live in a neighborhood are obliged to consider the homeowners around them.  So the town of Fairfield was right to adopt an anti-blight ordinance recently to force certain property owners to clean up their acts.  After all, one person's neglected property should not be allowed to stain the face of a neighborhood and drag down the values of nearby properties.

The Fairfield ordinance lets the town's Condemnation board cite a property owner for violations and impose a $100-a-day fine if the shortcoming remains uncorrected after 30 days.  Fairfield officials rejected a plan that would have started the fines at a low of $25 a day. Their reasoning was that imposing different fines for violations could lead to charges of favoritism or unfairness.

While the town should enforce the ordinance vigorously, there should also be leeway for consideration to property owners who may be in a hardship situation that prevents them from immediately tending to their property.

Homeless count in Norwalk
By JILL BODACH, Norwalk Hour Staff Writer
Monday, January 26, 2004
NORWALK -- Beginning in March, members of local service agencies will begin to count a segment of the population that is often difficult to quantify with specific numbers and statistics.  However, the fact that these individuals are difficult to put a number on is the exact reason they are the subject of the count. The individuals are the homeless adults and children who live in the greater Norwalk area.

The count is being conducted by The Advocates Group, a task force convened by the Human Services Council and comprised of over 40 public and private agencies.  The goal of the count is to provide an accurate record of the number of homeless living in this geographic area so that agencies can then develop a plan to work together to address the needs of the homeless.

"Having an accurate number of homeless in the area helps agencies apply for grants to serve them as well as help the agencies provide assistance to those who may not currently be associated with an agency," said Karen Schuessler of the Human Services Council.  The last time the count was taken was in March 2001. At that time, 372 households, which can be defined as a single person or a family, reported that they were homeless. Of those 372 respondents, 106 of them indicated that they were caring for minor dependent children.

The majority of the homeless respondents, 176, stated that they were currently utilizing the emergency shelter as a temporary/transitional housing. Among the reasons for being homeless: 58 respondents listed eviction; 20 listed release from a correctional institution; 69 said they had been released from a treatment program and 59 said they had financial difficulties.  Norwalk had the highest number of homeless people, with 303 of the respondents listing Norwalk as their hometown. Wilton had zero; Weston, two; Westport, 46; Stamford, 15; Greenwich, four; Darien, one and one individual did not list a town or city of origin.

"I think another important result of this survey is the increased awareness of the problem of homelessness in this area," said Jo-Ann Hand of the Human Services Council. "When people think of Fairfield County, they think of affluence and don't think of the fact that many individuals in this area are struggling to make ends meet." Both Hand and Schuessler believe that the 2004 homeless count will result in a higher number of homeless individuals in the area.

"Our prediction is that the number of homeless will be greater with this year's count," Schuessler said. "There are so many factors that contribute to homelessness and over the past two years, several of them have been present such as poor economy, loss of jobs and increased cost of living." On Jan. 30, The Advocates Group will offer training for the homeless count to members of the participating agencies. The count will take place from March 22 to 28.

For more information contact the Human Services Council at (203) 849-1111.