Testimony in Support of S.B. 364: An Act Concerning Extreme Weather Protocols Connecticut General Assembly Public Health Committee Public Hearing
Co-Chairs Senator Anwar and Representative McCarthy Vahey, Vice Chairs Senator Marx, Senator McCrory, and Representative Belton, Ranking Members Senator Somers and Representative Doris-Klarides, and distinguished members of the Public Health Committee,
My name is Jessica Kubicki. I’m the Chief Initiative Officer of the Opening Doors Initiative (ODI) at the Housing Collective based in Bridgeport, and I’m also a resident of Bethel, CT. ODI manages the homelessness emergency response system throughout western Connecticut, including Fairfield County, Litchfield County, and greater Waterbury. The Opening Doors Initiative is made up of Opening Doors Fairfield County (ODFC), and the Northwest Connecticut Coordinated Access Network (CAN).
Thank you for the opportunity to testify in strong support of S.B. 364, An Act Concerning Extreme Weather Protocols. We support S.B. 364 because it addresses some of the challenges we experience during the winter, especially this winter.
From the frontline perspective, this bill is about making sure that when weather becomes life-threatening, our response is clear, predictable, and coordinated statewide. This winter, Connecticut activated the Severe Cold Weather Protocol for 46 days. That meant extended shelter hours, overflow coordination, transportation planning, late-night intakes, and street outreach in below-freezing conditions.
During these activations, all overflow locations see a significant increase in households seeking access and locations serving up to 50% more than outside of these activation timeframes. Agencies will use every available space to shelter someone in need to ensure they are safe from the elements.
For staff, cold weather protocol activation often meant cancelled days off, double shifts, and constant schedule adjustments.
Staff must work overtime to canvas and outreach any unsheltered household to proactively notify them of overflow locations, oftentimes outside of their scheduled hours. Staff are coordinating with 2-1-1 around hotel room blocks, when applicable, and then ensuring transportation for households to get to the hotel for overflow; but due to the volume, responses are not always timely, leaving agencies and clients in limbo.
The lack of system coordination in processing hotel and transportation referrals often leads to outreach losing contact with unsheltered households with no phones. Regionally, transportation resources vary. We find in our more rural communities taxi services are limited and not all providers have access to a vehicle to transport the client to the hotel.
Due to high demand of hoteling, we are often seeking assistance outside the community that the unhoused household is coming from. As a result, access to household needs such as medication management, doctors, soup kitchens, etc are not accessible during the activation period and require additional coordination support for Outreach to assist.
It can also be challenging to identify additional food sources and ensure the household has enough food to sustain during the cold weather activation period. In some cases, the household has food but may not be able to prepare it depending on the amenities of the hotel (i.e microwave, fridge, kitchenette, etc.)
Lastly, agencies plan their staffing structure and model based on specified hours (where staff traditionally have full time jobs), but during enactments, staff are overextended due to lack of staff available during the days.
For clients, last-minute notice about cold weather protocols created confusion and stress.
When an unhoused individual is interested in accessing shelter due to the weather (when usually they decline), it is absolutely critical that space is made available and accessible at that moment so we can maintain trust and engagement with that person. When outreach staff are unclear where to send an unhoused person, it immediately creates a belief that they are not credible. If a household is not interested in accessing a traditional shelter setting, the use of hotels has increased the success of the unhoused accessing a safe space.
The most common challenge we experience is when an activation is extended on the day it was scheduled to end. This means there is not enough time to notify hotels, agencies, and households which results in 50 people exiting back to an unsheltered location and staff have to start all over again on locating and re-engaging back to the same hotel they just left. This is so blatantly inefficient, and more important, it increases the risk of death for our clients from being unsheltered.
When activation stretches across multiple weeks, the strain is compounded throughout the system.
CAN backbone staff are working around the clock playing an intermediary between state partners, 2-1-1 call specialists, overflow agencies, and hotels. Ensuring that any cases being flagged are handled immediately due to the time sensitivity of the weather requires 2/47 accessibility.
To reiterate, we support S.B. 364 because it addresses what we experienced this winter.
The bill requires the Division of Emergency Management and Homeland Security, in consultation with the Governor’s office and municipal leaders, to establish standardized extreme hot and cold weather protocols with clear triggers - temperature, wind chill, and heat index - that prompt required opening of warming and cooling centers statewide. It also requires transportation access and public communication, including coordination with 2-1-1.
That clarity matters.
When triggers are standardized and notice is predictable, we can:
- Schedule staff in advance instead of scrambling same-day
- Coordinate with outreach teams before temperatures drop
- Alert clients earlier so they can prepare
- Work with municipal partners to secure space and staffing
- Reduce confusion in the community
Connecticut has seen homelessness increase 44% since 2021, with unsheltered homelessness rising 45% in the past year alone. That means more people are exposed to dangerous weather conditions. And when you consider cold weather, extreme heat at 90°F and above, and severe storms, we could face up to 121 activation days in a year.
A system cannot operate one-third of the year in emergency mode without structure and coordination.
It’s unacceptable that we cannot offer every individual access to safe shelter during extreme weather. These are our neighbors, friends, colleagues or family members, and they deserve a better process.
As providers and frontline staff, we support S.B. 364 because we know what happens without consistency: staff burnout, client confusion, and preventable risk. This bill provides the framework for predictability. That predictability allows us to do what we are committed to doing - keeping people safe during extreme weather.
Thank you for your leadership and for the opportunity to testify. I respectfully urge you to support S.B. 364.
