Securing Cold Weather Funding for the Homeless Response System

This winter, Bridgeport's sole warming center, the Bridgeport Alpha Community Services YMCA, was severely overwhelmed. Designed to shelter 30 people, it instead housed 70 people on a daily basis, providing life-saving food, hygiene, and shelter as Connecticut’s most vulnerable faced dangerously low temperatures. In other words, residents of Bridgeport and the surrounding communities were not out in the streets in the cold facing serious harm because the Bridgeport YMCA and their team strained far beyond their capacity. 

This instance highlights a broader issue across Connecticut: warming centers are consistently overburdened by the growing homelessness crisis, forcing them to operate beyond their intended scope and capacity with limited funding. Not only was funding insufficient, it was also discretionary, forcing providers to go back and beg the state government for the funding winter after winter. 

That’s where Opening Doors Fairfield County (ODFC) and state partners stepped in. ODFC, an initiative of the Housing Collective, plays a crucial role in supporting the homelessness response system across Fairfield County, including the YMCA in Bridgeport. Despite a 23% decrease in shelter beds in the region between 2023 and 2024, ODFC ramped up efforts and supported 24% more households. This trend continued from 2024 to 2025, with a 10% decrease in beds but a 29% increase in households supported. While beds continued to decrease, the number of people requiring care soared. As a result, ODFC recognized the immense pressure on warming centers and, alongside state partners, set out to secure consistent, long-term funding for cold weather assistance to ensure this critical care is available every year.

Securing funding in perpetuity meant ensuring that local and state officials recognized the dire need for these programs. The ODFC and the Housing Collective conducted a variety of outreach and strategic communications efforts to ensure that the problem was clear to legislators and constituents alike.

In December 2023 and 2024, ODFC, in conjunction with the Connecticut Coalition to End Homelessness, hosted roundtables with legislators and service providers to discuss the state of homelessness in Fairfield County and encourage lawmakers to take action. Discussions revolved around increased and annualized cold weather funding, funding coordinated access networks and hubs, and flexible funding for individuals to overcome financial barriers that make securing consistent housing nearly impossible. 

Additionally, staff from the Opening Doors Initiative, the Front Entry Services for Alpha Community Services YMCA, and Central Connecticut Coast YMCA published a joint op-ed in the Connecticut Post highlighting the overwhelming challenges of operating a warming center in the winter under increasingly strained funding.

Though there is still much work to be done, securing this funding is a key step towards easing the strain these life-saving organizations face. Warming centers provide a crucial service for Connecticut’s most vulnerable populations as temperatures drop to dangerously low levels each winter. ODFC and The Housing Collective will continue to fight to make sure organizations have sufficient funds and resources to provide critical, life-saving services to homeless individuals and families around Connecticut.