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SD public defense duties shift from counties to state; SCOTUS appears skeptical of restricting government communications with social media companies; Trump lawyers say he can't make bond; new scholarships aim to connect class of 2024 to high-demand jobs.

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The SCOTUS weighs government influence on social media, and who groups like the NRA can do business with. Biden signs an executive order to advance women's health research and the White House tells Israel it's responsible for the Gaza humanitarian crisis.

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Midwest regenerative farmers are rethinking chicken production, Medicare Advantage is squeezing the finances of rural hospitals and California's extreme swing from floods to drought has some thinking it's time to turn rural farm parcels into floodplains.

Budget Impasse Raises Concerns for Homeless Services

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Friday, August 18, 2017   

HARTFORD, Conn. – Advocates for the homeless are worried that cuts in Connecticut's budget, now almost seven weeks overdue, could roll back progress.

The January census of homelessness showed a third straight year of declining numbers in the Nutmeg State, a 24-percent reduction from 2014 and the lowest count on record.

But according to Lisa Tepper Bates, executive director of the Connecticut Coalition to End Homelessness, the budget impasse already has brought funding cuts to service providers working with individuals still living on the streets.

"As this drags on, there is the very real possibility of the funds not being available to allow for the rental subsidies that have helped some very high-need individuals exit homelessness to stable housing," she explains.

The state is attempting to close a $1.6 billion deficit for the current fiscal year through cuts, with few increases in tax revenue.

Bates says proposals that have been made so far include cutting services for high-needs people, such as those with mental illness, once they have been housed, and eliminating the Department of Housing through consolidation with another government agency.

"Having that stand-alone Department of Housing has been central to a real housing policy that includes ending homelessness, and a substantial increase in the stock of affordable housing," she says.

Bates adds that cuts on the state level would not only jeopardize the substantial decrease in the state's homeless population but also would shift some of the burden to local communities.

"That decrease in homelessness is saving lives and saving our communities resources that in these tight times they cannot afford to squander," adds Tepper Bates.

National studies have shown that housing the chronically homeless with appropriate services can decrease costs to communities by up to 70 percent.

Advocates for the homeless are worried that cuts in Connecticut's budget, now almost seven weeks overdue, could roll back progress. Andrea Sears reports.


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