Celebration Day

20!

Thank you for joining us throughout 20 Days. Learn. Action. Giving.

Over the past 20 days, you've explored the challenges facing Connecticut's housing system, learned about the partnerships creating solutions, and seen the impact that happens when communities work together.Every contribution helps strengthen housing solutions, support local communities, and move us closer to a Connecticut where everyone has a safe, stable place to call home.

Whether you donated, shared a post, started a conversation, or simply took time to learn—you became part of this movement.

Every contribution helps strengthen housing solutions, support local communities, and move us closer to a Connecticut where everyone has a safe, stable place to call home.

Join the campaign and help build a better housing future.

Investing in the People Behind the Work.

The people working to end homelessness need support, too.

The Housing Innovation Lab brings together housing professionals, service providers, and community leaders to strengthen Connecticut's homelessness response system through research, collaboration, and practical solutions.

Did You Know? 
The Housing Innovation Lab found that Connecticut's homelessness response workforce is often underpaid, overworked, and at high risk of burnout—even as the need for services continues to grow.

When we invest in the people doing this work, we build stronger systems, better outcomes, and more stable communities.

Opening Doors Together.

No single group can end homelessness alone.

The Opening Doors Initiative (ODI) brings together a network of more than 150 local shelters, landlords, and social service providers across Western Connecticut to work as one team.  

Did You Know? Reports submitted by The Housing Collective show that since 2021, homelessness across Connecticut has increased by 44% because housing costs have gone up so much faster than people's paychecks.

This rising number is exactly why working together matters so much right now.

By coordinating our efforts and sharing resources, ODI helps make sure that homelessness in our neighborhoods is rare, brief, and never happens twice.

Working Together for Affordable Homes

Fixing housing is too big of a job for just one person or town.

The Centers for Housing Opportunity (CHO)  bring local groups together to produce, preserve, and protect affordable housing in Connecticut.

Our Impact

In just one year, the CHO initiative brought together over 400 residents to talk about local housing solutions and provided direct hands-on help to 30 different towns to create better affordable housing plans.

34% of frontline workers

who help people find housing actually ran out of money themselves between paychecks.

These workers spend their days helping families find safe homes, but the high cost of living makes it hard for them to get by, too.

To build a stronger community, we need to make sure housing is affordable for everyone, including the people who do this vital work.

Did you know that where someone lives affects more than just their address?

Access to affordable housing can influence health, educational opportunities, employment, and overall quality of life.

Housing is connected to nearly every part of a thriving community.

Learning is one of the easiest ways to make a difference.

The more we understand housing challenges, the better prepared we are to support meaningful solutions.

Behind every housing success story is a person

Behind every housing success story is a person. Outreach workers, case managers, shelter staff, and housing navigators help people navigate some of life's most difficult moments every dayresearch shows having a dedicated case manager to navigate the system can

The Power of Support: research shows having a dedicated case manager to navigate the system can more than double a person's chances of successfully exiting homelessness and maintaining stable housing.

It’s not just about four walls and a roof—it’s about the human connection that opens the door.

Explore the Impact 

Across Western Connecticut...

Over 4,500 people were successfully diverted from entering the shelter system or securely housed over the past year alone.

One of the greatest levers for preventing housing loss is our Coordinated Access Networks (CAN).

Resolving housing crises through rapid, localized intervention prevents shelter placement.

This regional framework, ensures that emergency response systems are working effectively across counties to intercept instability before it leads to homelessness.

Building Our Housing Future

Planning for a sustainable future means proactively shaping our community infrastructure to support the next generation.

By modernizing our local housing options today, we ensure our children, seniors, and essential workers can always afford to stay rooted in the towns they love.

Building tomorrow's housing security starts with the choices we make today.

The Middle Housing Reality

Connecticut's zoning updates encourage towns to permit "middle housing" options like duplexes.

Modernizing local land-use policies ensures housing options remain diverse enough to support a local workforce and maintain alignment with state development guidelines.

The Power of the Collective

Housing instability isn't a problem a single program can solve—it requires fixing the entire system. Through three core initiatives, The Housing Collective (HC) actively coordinates funding, data, and community partners to shift Connecticut from reacting to housing crises to proactively preventing them.

When we align our resources, we build lasting housing stability.

Opening Doors Initiative: Manages the emergency response network to streamline and optimize local homeless response systems.

Centers for Housing Opportunity: Unites regional cross-sector partners to directly produce, protect, and preserve affordable workforce housing.

Housing Innovation Lab: Integrates systems-level data and real lived expertise to challenge assumptions and design smarter tools.

Serving a Town You Can't Afford

From healthcare professionals and school staff to emergency responders and service workers, a lack of affordable options forces the local workforce out of the communities they serve. When the people who take care of our town are priced out, our entire community structure fractures.

If you are essential to our community, you should be able to afford a home in it.

 The Reality

 The workers we rely on every day are being forced to commute from miles away or leave the region entirely.

The Risk

 Staffing shortages in our schools, hospitals, and emergency services because local housing costs are too high.

The Fix

Create diverse, workforce-priced housing so our community's backbone can live where they work.

The Foundation of Our Town.

Housing affordability is not an isolated issue; it is the cornerstone of our entire community structure. When housing costs outpace local wages, it creates barriers for the very workforce that keeps our towns functioning.

If our workers can't afford to live here, our community can't afford to function.

 The Reality

Local wages no longer match local housing costs.

The Risk

We lose the essential workers who run our schools, shops, and emergency services.

The Fix

Fix the local zoning laws so the people who work in our town can actually afford to live in it.

Community Readiness.

Building an inclusive town isn't just about policy—it's about community readiness. When residents are informed, they can actively dismantle barriers to housing choice.

How to be Ready 

1. Knowing the Real Data 

Moving past rumors and looking at the actual local housing shortages.

2. Engage in The 'System Change' Process 

Participate in changing the local laws and advocate your communities needs. 

3. Organizing a Local Team

Getting town leaders, neighbors, and workers on the same page to back a plan.

Stronger Together: How Our Network Drives Local Housing Solutions

No single organization can solve the housing crisis alone. True change happens when our cross-sector partner network aligns resources, shares data, and collaborates on equitable local solutions.

By teaming up through The Housing Collective’s regional initiatives, our network uses shared data to tackle two critical areas:

Supporting the Front Lines

Over one-third of front-line homelessness response staff face severe financial strain between paychecks. To prevent burnout and ensure stable support for our neighbors, our network collaborates to advocate for the livable wages and mental health resources these workers deserve.

Diversifying Local Leadership 

Up to 20% of local land-use board seats across our regions are vacant or filled by expired terms, leaving renters and people of color heavily underrepresented. Our partners work to break down barriers to public participation so that local housing decisions reflect the voices of everyone in the community.

By combining front-line workforce data with local leadership insights, our network is empowering communities to build a fairer housing system from the ground up.

Behind the Data: How We’re Looking at Local Housing Numbers

To truly transform our local housing systems, we have to look closely at the real numbers impacting our neighbors and our front-line workers.

The Housing Collective’s latest research highlights some incredibly stark realities across Connecticut:

• Affordable Housing Deficit: Connecticut currently needs an additional 120,000 affordable homes to meet the actual demand.

• The Cost of Living: A worker would need to log 69 hours every single week at minimum wage just to afford a modest 1-bedroom rental home in the state.

• Front-line Pressures: 34% of front-line homelessness response staff reported running out of money between paychecks last year.

Data like this is critical for uncovering systemic inefficiencies, exposing inequities, and shaping a more equitable housing system.

The Neighbors Who Make Our Town systems' Work

There is a vital group of neighbors quietly working every single day to keep our towns safe, compassionate, and whole: the frontline staff of our homeless response system.

These are the case managers, shelter workers, street outreach teams, and housing advocates who step up during our community's toughest moments.

Recently, we launched The People Behind the System: 2025 Homeless Response Staff Survey.

The findings remind us that while solving homelessness fundamentally requires building more homes, it also relies entirely on supporting the energized, dedicated workforce that guides people into those homes.

The Results: Standing in the Gap During Challenging Times

Our frontline workers are navigating a steep uphill climb. Between the 2024 and 2025 Point-in-Time counts, homelessness in Connecticut increased by nearly 10% statewide.

As the need has grown, these dedicated neighbors have worked around the clock to:

1. Run emergency shelters and warm spaces

2. Build custom housing plans with individuals and families

3. Conduct continuous outreach to secure safe housing options

4. Meet people exactly where they are—directly on the street—to offer connection and care

Zoning Laws & Representation 

Zoning laws help decide what kinds of homes can be built in a community and where they can be built. These decisions affect housing choices, affordability, and neighborhood growth.

We found through our Room at the Table research report, that many local land use boards do not fully reflect the communities they serve, and many seats remain vacant. By getting involved, more residents can help bring diverse perspectives to housing decisions that shape their communities.

Who Makes the Rules?

These rules aren't set in stone forever, and they aren't made by strangers far away. They are run by a group of local citizens called a zoning board.

Regular people from the community—like your neighbors, local business owners, or parents—can actually sit on these boards. They hold public meetings where anyone can show up to vote, speak up, and help decide what kinds of homes should be allowed in the neighborhood.

The Housing Collective's Room at the Table report found that:

Nearly 1 in 10 land use board seats are vacant.

Only about 1 in 4 board members are women.

Just 14% of members are under age 45.

Renters make up only 7% of board members, even though renters represent a much larger share of Connecticut residents.

Housing Affordability 

Finding affordable housing is a big problem today. It is getting harder for families to find homes they can pay for. Rent is going up, but paychecks are staying the same. Also, there are not enough affordable homes available. 

This makes it hard for people to pay their bills and keep a roof over their heads.

To fix this, we need to:

1. Make better laws.

2. Build more affordable homes.

3. Make sure everyone gets paid a fair wage.

 Did You Know? 

0 / 50 States

There is no state or county where a renter working full-time at minimum wage can afford a two-bedroom apartment.

 71% 

71% of all extremely low-income CT families are severely cost-burdened.

50%

Low-income families spend more than 50% of their income on rent.