Gov. Dannel P. Malloy said Thursday that Connecticut has received federal designation as the first state in the country to end chronic homelessness among its military veterans.
The designation means all veterans known by officials to be experiencing chronic homelessness have either been housed or are on an immediate path to permanent housing, and that the state can provide similar action quickly for newly homeless vets.
The state has helped to house nearly 300 chronically homeless veterans since last year, officials said.
Chronic homelessness is defined as any disabled military vet who has been homeless for at least a year or who has experienced four separate episodes of homelessness within three years.
A count of homeless veterans earlier this year in Connecticut found 41, which was 45 percent lower than the number found in a 2013 count, Malloy said.
The state has used vouchers from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs as its primary tool for housing veterans. The vouchers come with VA case management and medical services.
A second piece of the strategy is the state’s investment in creating 6,150 affordable housing units since 2011. Nearly 3,000 more are under construction, with another 5,255 in the pipeline.
State officials worked on the effort with a group that included federal and state agencies and a number of nonprofits and community-based providers.
