Connecticut’s First-In-The-Nation Housing Pilot Program Extended

By Joe O’Leary

December 24 @ 5:00 am

The Head Start on Housing program has received high praise from state leaders and an extension to help more families in Connecticut as its novel approach may be replicated elsewhere.

Head Start on Housing is a first-in-the-nation pilot program designed to connect children and their families with housing support if those children are enrolled in the Head Start program and their families are experiencing homelessness. The program has helped 144 families since its 2022 launch, according to Gov. Ned Lamont’s office.

Head Start provides young children in low-income families with access to early learning, health and family wellness services. The housing pilot is a joint offering from the Connecticut Department of Housing and Office of Early Childhood and uses vouchers from the federal Department of Housing to support families receiving aid.

In the two years since its launch, those 144 families, with 317 children, have received housing. About 85 of those children were old enough to start school, with another 232 were under kindergarten age, according to the governor’s office. That’s hundreds of people, and hundreds of children, off the street with much-needed stability.

In a press release this month, the governor called ensuring access to stable housing a “moral imperative.”

“Stable housing is among the most important components of a child’s development and wellbeing, and by expanding this state pilot program using federal housing vouchers we will be able to connect more young families to a place they can call home,” Lamont said.

In a 2015 report by Children’s Health Watch, researchers found that when a child faces homelessness, especially at a young age, the stress can impact them for life, with both physical and mental consequences.

For example, children who have experienced homelessness have higher rates of chronic diseases caused by stress. That impact can be worsened if their mother experiences homelessness during pregnancy, underscoring the foundational and lifelong consequences of instability early in one’s life.

The Head Start website shows weekly updates on the program’s continued work. Currently, the program has processed 239 referrals, with families supported at more than a dozen locations throughout the state. In addition to 144 housed families, another 15 are either searching for apartments or awaiting inspections before getting connected, with 45 more under review.

State Senator Saud Anwar, Senate Chair of the legislature’s Public Health Committee, lauded the program’s success.

“The connections between stable housing and better results in a child’s education, health and overall life are strong and underscore the sheer importance of programs like this,” Anwar said. “As an advocate to reduce and prevent homelessness in Connecticut, I could not be more proud to see our state’s creative approach bear fruit, with the potential to expand nationally.”

In years to come, the Department of Housing plans to directly allocate 50 vouchers each year for families in Head Start and Early Head Start programs.

Families in other states may soon be helped by similar initiatives. Connecticut housing and Head Start providers in other parts of the country have spoken with state officials, wanting to replicate the program to support residents of their own states, according to the governor’s office.

“By leveraging Head Start’s two-generational model of providing services to both the child and the family, these programs are uniquely positioned to support Head Start on Housing’s goal of providing safe and stable homes for young children and their families experiencing homelessness,” said Connecticut’s Early Childhood Acting Commissioner Elena Trueworthy.