The number of Connecticut youths accessing emergency shelters has increased by about 5% from 2025 to 2026, and resources for that population are thin, homeless service providers said.
More than 970 children have accessed emergency shelter services in 2026, an increase from 928 in 2025 and 844 in 2024. Another 365 people aged 18 to 24 have accessed these services, according to data from the Connecticut Coalition to End Homelessness.
This comes at a time when the state has minimal shelter services for people under 18, said Stacey Violante Cote, of the Center for Children’s Advocacy. Late last year, the New Haven-based Youth Continuum shuttered under financial stress. This left only two youth shelters in the state — both in Fairfield County.
“It’s unsafe that we have minors that don’t have a place to go if they are kicked out of their house, or if they leave home,” Violante Cote said.
This has particularly posed problems for LGBTQ+ kids who might not be comfortable going into adult shelters, Violante Cote added.
Most children are accompanied by their parents, said Sarah Fox, chief executive of the Connecticut Coalition to End Homelessness. The increase is partly driven by rising costs of living and broader problems for families in making ends meet.
“All of these issues impacting our families have a direct impact on youth, and I do think that there’s a lot of areas that we need to focus on, including having resources ready for youth,” Fox said.
She added that the Connecticut Department of Education, which defines homelessness differently from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, likely has the more complete count.
In the education world, homeless students include those who are “doubled up” or sleeping on a friend or family member’s couch. The Department of Education also counts students who are living in hotels, where HUD typically does not.
This means that the state’s count of homeless students far outpaces numbers of youths accessing emergency services.
In the 2025-26 school year, state data shows that there were about 4,800 students experiencing homelessness. That made up about 1% of the total student population. That’s actually a slight decrease from 2024-25 when there were about 5,100 students experiencing homelessness.
Fox said that could be the result of an undercount. The students reported in the state’s data are those who come to the attention of the school district — they typically seek services and tell a school employee that they don’t have a stable place to sleep.
Violante Cote said for those students who are doubled up, sometimes it can be hard to get housing aid because many state services require that people be actually homeless — living on the streets or in shelters — before they can access the help. This can be a particular challenge for kids aging out of foster care, she said.
“We need to focus on housing and stability earlier and make sure that young people and families are connected to resources faster, so we can prevent housing instability,” Fox said.
