Ground Broken On Student-Run Youth Homeless Shelter In New Haven - WSHU

Housing advocates broke ground on a 20-bed temporary shelter for homeless youth in New Haven, Connecticut.

The $4 million project will be the first student-run overnight program in Connecticut. The student leadership development group Y2Y will operate the facility, alongside Youth Continuum that has provided counseling services for homeless young people for decades in New Haven.

“Youth Continuum, they helped me out, they put me in the youth shelter, they connected me with a case worker who helped me find my own apartment and now I’m on the youth adversary board and it’s such an honor to be a part of Y2Y because it’s kids helping kids,” said a unidentified young women at the ground breaking ceremony.

Construction on the new facility will begin later this month adjacent to Youth Continuum’s headquarters and is set to open next fall.

Y2Y calls it a national model for helping homeless youth find housing and services.

“I know all too well the need for affordable housing in this community and the important role that Y2Y will play in the continuum of offering housing services offered in this community, this is such an amazing project,” said Karen DuBois Walton, who heads the city’s housing authority.