Who We Are

Overview

supportive housing WORKS is an alliance of four leading permanent supportive housing providers in Fairfield County:

  • Catholic Charities-Fairfield County;
  • Central Connecticut Coast YMCA;
  • Homes with Hope of Westport/Weston;
  • Operation Hope, Inc;
  • New Haven Home Recovery;
  • St. Luke's Lifeworks; and
  • Shelter for the Homeless.

supportive housing WORKS’s mission is to end long-term homelessness in Fairfield County by creating 1,735 new permanent supportive housing units through a collaboration of efforts in the areas of acquisition, financing, housing development, pubic-private partnerships, supportive services and property management.  Our vision is to reduce the need for homeless shelters through the development and operation of affordable housing, particularly the expansion of supportive housing opportunities.

supportive housing WORKS is focused on anticipating and meeting the permanent supportive housing needs of the chronically homeless in coastal Fairfield County in the 2004-2014 timeframe.  The alliance is part of a statewide effort in Connecticut to expand the amount of affordable housing, with a focus on supportive services, called “Reaching Home”.  supportive housing WORKS was originally started in 2004 by the CEO’s of the four alliance member agencies and was incorporated as supportive housing WORKS, Inc. in July of 2006.  The alliance was established to facilitate and enable the funding, development and management of permanent supportive housing units as well as the infrastructure and talent necessary to fill the gap between needs and resources.  Within the last year the Board of Directors, have taken the next logical step by beginning to hire the team necessary to make supportive housing WORKS’s goals come to fruition.  In January of 2006 David Rich was hired as Executive Director and Carol Martin as Director of Housing Development.  In July Richard Neller joined the team as Manager of Assets and Special Projects.  The over arching goal of supportive housing WORKS is to end long-term homelessness in Fairfield County by creating 1,735 new permanent supportive housing units by 2014.