New Haven Shelter Faces Closure Without $30M State Funding

Roughly 100 people at a New Haven hotel-turned-shelter could lose their housing within months unless state lawmakers approve $30 million for Connecticut’s homeless services network.

That was the message nonprofit leaders delivered Friday morning at 270 Foxon Blvd., a former hotel that Continuum of Care converted into a non-congregate shelter with 51 rooms. The organization’s CEO, James Farales, told advocates and reporters that without new state funding, the shelter faces a $1.5 million shortfall that could force it to close. “It’s only going to get worse,” Farales said.

Sitting on a bench at the back of the lobby, Theresa Kennealy watched the press conference unfold. She didn’t speak at the microphone. But after the event ended, the 62-year-old shared what the funding fight means in plain terms.

Kennealy is a thyroid cancer survivor who was evicted from her West Haven apartment, lost her job at Family Dollar, and spent time sleeping in a tent off Quinnipiac Avenue. She now shares one of the shelter’s rooms with her 35-year-old son. “I wouldn’t be alive,” she said, fighting back tears, if not for the shelter and her son’s help.

A System at the Breaking Point

Kennealy is one of 1,700 people currently experiencing homelessness in Greater New Haven, a number that speakers Friday attributed to rising housing costs and stagnant incomes. Service providers say the population is also aging. More older adults with serious health conditions are showing up at emergency shelters, they argued, and the existing system isn’t funded to handle the load.

New Reach CEO Kellyann Day put it simply. “This can happen to anyone,” she said.

The coalition gathered at Foxon includes leaders from Continuum of Care, New Reach, United Way of Greater New Haven, Milford’s Beth-El Center, and the City of New Haven’s Community Services Administration. Deputy CSA Carlos Sosa-Lombardo joined them to press the case that the state needs to act before the spring legislative session ends.

Beth-El Center’s Jennifer Paradis outlined where the $30 million would go. The breakdown: $12.3 million for extreme-weather housing support, $10 million in flexible funding for homeless services, $6 million to expand staffing at existing providers, and $1.5 million specifically to stabilize the Foxon shelter.

What the State Money Would Do

The flexible funding request is the piece service providers say they need most. Connecticut’s current homeless response infrastructure, they argued, can’t absorb sudden spikes in demand, and the Foxon shelter’s situation illustrates why. Continuum of Care runs the city-owned building, which sits in a neighborhood that doesn’t make headlines but quietly houses some of the region’s most vulnerable residents. Without the $1.5 million, the organization can’t keep the program running past the near term.

New Haven Independent reported on the gathering Friday, capturing the coalition’s call for state investment. The Foxon shelter is one piece of a statewide network that providers say needs sustained, not emergency, support.

The coalition’s ask lands at the General Assembly during a session when housing has already drawn significant attention. Connecticut’s Department of Housing tracks shelter capacity and funding streams across the state, and advocates point to its data as evidence that current allocations haven’t kept pace with demand. The National Alliance to End Homelessness has documented similar funding gaps in mid-sized cities nationwide, where hotel-conversion shelters like the Foxon property have become a common stopgap.

The People Behind the Numbers

It’s easy to get lost in dollar figures. Kennealy’s story pulls the conversation back to ground level.

She didn’t ask to be evicted. She didn’t plan to lose her job. She ended up in a tent before she found a room on Foxon Boulevard. The coalition’s argument Friday was that her story isn’t exceptional anymore.

Providers said the face of homelessness has changed. More people arriving at shelters are older, dealing with serious illness, and don’t have family safety nets strong enough to catch them. The systems built to help them weren’t designed for this scale.

Farales and the other speakers didn’t offer a timeline for when the General Assembly might act. What they made clear is that the Foxon shelter can’t wait for the slow grind of the budget process. The $1.5 million gap is real, it’s immediate, and roughly 100 people are living inside it.

Day’s line is the one that stays with you: “This can happen to anyone.”