The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Housing top request in 211 calls for help
Housing help remains top reason for calls
HARTFORD >> More than 297,000 calls were made to the 211 hotline in the state last year and some analysts think that number will only go up as word about the success of the service spreads, particularly as the state moves closer to its goal of ending homelessness as housing needs are the most popular requests made by callers.
As more people become aware of the help they can receive by calling 211, it might “encourage people to use our services,” said Annie Scully, a research analyst in the community results center at United Way of Connecticut.
“We have a turnaround that is as quick as possible to get them (help),” Scully said.
The 211 hotline is for people experiencing a crisis, and the most common request for help is in relation to housing, according to data from 211 Counts, which clocked the number of housing requests as 22.1 percent of the total in 2016. 211 Counts was created by the Health Communication Research Laboratory at the Washington University in St. Louis and tracks the approximately 16 million calls that are made to 211 call centers across the country every year.
Scully said housing requests in Connecticut most commonly come in the winter months, and crisis calls can range from a potential suicide situation to someone needing food for their families.
Dan Arsenault, a spokesman for the state Department of Housing, said that the 211 hotline serves as the front line for those experiencing homelessness, and the state continues to be able to house more and more people than ever before.
“Connecticut is a national leader when it comes to preventing and ending homelessness,” Arsenault said. “As the first state in the
nation to end chronic veteran homelessness, and being one of only three states to have effectively ended veteran homelessness, we are proud of our proven track record of success.”
Arsenault said the state will work to continue to build upon its efforts to quickly house people in need.
Data from 211 Counts shows that 332,827 requests were made in 297,166 calls last year. Scully said that often more than one request is made per call, which is why there are more requests logged than phone calls in a given span of time.
Those numbers are actually down from the data from 2015, according to 211 Counts, which recorded 333,008 calls and 354,515 requests in 2015. Housing requests came in more than 24 percent of calls to the 211 hotline in 2015.
Scully said there are contact specialists available at all hours of the day to help connect people with the right services, with more people prepared to answer requests at higher volume times.
“We really do pride ourselves on not having a lag time on our calls,” Scully said.
Based on the data from last year, more calls were made for housing in the colder months of the year than in the spring and summer.
While Scully did not have an exact number of requests that were fulfilled last year, she said every request that is not handled right away, is flagged to be followed up on at a later date.
If a person is calling 211 and is literally homeless, they are referred to their local Coordinated Access Network, according to Lisa Tepper Bates, executive director of the Connecticut Coalition to End Homelessness. There are eight CANs in Connecticut, covering every region of the state, and each is designed to help move people out of homelessness as quickly as possible by connecting them with services quickly. Not all housing calls are referred to CANs, she said.
Bates said when someone in need of assistance is connected with a CAN, they are given an appointment with a CAN administrator to best figure out how homeless services can fit their needs.
CANs can also provide diversion funding for those who qualify to keep them from ever falling into homelessness in the first place, according to CCEH.
During a fundraising campaign at the end of 2016, approximately $47,475 was raised to support CANs in the state, according to Madeline Ravich, a development advisor for CCEH. Ravich said it costs an average of $1,000 to keep a family in crisis out of homelessness.