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Kelly Toth, APRN, speaks to a person living in a tent in Hartford's Pope Park as resource coordinator Jacqueline Bengtson and physician assistant David Mingolelli stand by. Credit: Shahrzad Rasekh / CT Mirror

No.

Homelessness increased by 9.5% in 2025, according to the state’s annual census of the homeless population. This includes people living in shelters and the “unhoused,” meaning those living outside or in a place not meant for human habitation, like a car.

The state provides an official point-in-time count of the sheltered and unsheltered people in the state. Last year’s count found a total of 3,735 people lived in shelters or outside in January 2025, compared to 3,410 in January 2024.

The number of people who are unhoused, however, increased by 45%, rising to 833 from 574 in 2024.

Connecticut providers have argued they need more funding for years. Recently, however, the Trump administration cut federal funding for homelessness services.

Gov. Ned Lamont announced in December he planned to use funding from the recently created Emergency State Response Reserve to support homelessness prevention and response services throughout the state.

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Mariana Navarrete Villegas is a Community Engagement Reporter for The Connecticut Mirror, covering Hartford. She recently graduated from the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism with a master’s degree in Bilingual Journalism. Previously, she was the Community Engagement and Video Assistant at Epicenter-NYC and a Podcast Intern at The Take, Al Jazeera English’s daily news podcast. As a reporter, she has covered stories from New York to Florida, California, Panama, and Mexico, focusing on labor rights, immigration, and community care. She also hosts 'La Chismesita,' a community radio show in New York that archives oral histories through conversations with women community leaders. Originally from Mexico, Mariana spent her teenage years in Panama. She holds a B.A. in Global Studies with a minor in Psychology from Saint Leo University, where she interned at the International Rescue Committee.