Data Snapshot - Basic Needs Are Increasing In Our Region

Data Snapshot - November 2008

Utilities/Heat

• There has been a 35% increase in service requests to 2-1-1 for utilities/heat assistance from • our region (1,136 requests in October 2008 compared to 858 requests in October 2007).
• There has been a 79% increase in the energy assistance caseload for our region (managed by • Community Action Agency) between November 2007 and November 2008, from 2,586 cases in 2007 to 4,637 in 2008.

Food

• There has been a 13% increase in service requests to 2-1-1 for food assistance from our region • (424 requests in October 2008 compared to 375 requests in October 2007).
• Comparing July – September 2008 to the same period in 2006, the Community Soup Kitchen • in New Haven has experience a 25% increase in the number of people served (based on an unduplicated count). According to the CT Food Bank, the increase in meals served and number of people served by the Community Soup Kitchen is typical of the increased need and demand evident throughout the greater New Haven service area.

Housing – Shelter

• In New Haven there has been a 5% increase in homeless individuals and in Connecticut a 13% • increase in families this year, compared to last year.
• In New Haven there has been an increase of almost 13% in the number of homeless single • women. Women are also losing their children to foster care once they are no longer able to provide shelter.
• Before the overflow shelter opened last week, Columbus House was turning away 8-10 men a • night. They would be referred to Emergency Shelter Management Services (Immanuel Baptist), which is also at capacity.
• The overflow shelter, which opened last week, is already serving 50 men a night. The capacity • is 75 men.

Housing - Foreclosure

• The number of homes lost to foreclosure in New Haven has risen steeply in 2008 (293 during • the first three quarters of 2008, compared to 165 for all of 2007).
• The majority of foreclosures affect owner-occupied housing. •

Overall data

• 2-1-1 data show a marked increase in calls from towns of Hamden, East Haven, North Haven, • and North Branford when comparing October 2008 to October 2007.

*Correction: There has been a 79% increase in the energy assistance not a 179% increase as previously indicated.