As an entry point within Connecticut's Emergency Response System, our shelter is a safe harbor for individuals and families to receive the critical services (sheltering; food; clothing; advocacy; case management and referrals; after-school tutoring; veteran's case management services; assessment and counseling services; and health screenings) they need to stabilize, recover, and overcome their housing crises.

Our Homeless Shelter served 433 unduplicated individuals, including 32 families with 55 children in the fiscal year ending June 30, 2022. 

*Due to the pandemic, the shelter was required to separate beds for safe social distancing. This required decompression occurred on March 25^th 2020, and as a result, the shelter’s capacity was reduced in FY 2020.

Our Soup Kitchen serves a nutritionally balanced, hot noon-time meal seven days a week to individuals and families experiencing poverty, hunger, and homelessness. Our Food Pantry, which also operates in the same location, distributed weekly groceries to the area's poor at no charge.

In the fiscal year ending June 30, 2022, the Soup Kitchen served 46,398 cooked meals: This includes take-out, breakfast and noon-time meals, and averages to over 151 meals per day.  The Food Pantry distributed and equivalent of 352,992 meals in bagged groceries to the poor in the community.   

*To reduce the spread of Covid-19, the Soup Kitchen began providing take-out services to patrons on March 15th, 2020, and the Food Pantry process was altered to ensure proper distancing during check-ins and pick-ups, serving one person at a time. Given the impact of the pandemic/availability of food stamps, the soup kitchen and food pantry served less people in FY 2020.

Our Thrift Store, in the center of Waterbury, provides relief to families and individuals living with the challenges of poverty, and offers them access to basic items and furnishings that are not affordable to them through conventional outlets.

The Thrift Store provided 1,189 people with clothing and 87 individuals families with furniture and home goods who were experiencing poverty in our community. This amounts to a total of $68,354.00 of goods to the community free of charge in the fiscal year ending June 30, 2022.

1. “In 2020, there were an estimated 14.2 million adults aged 18 or older in the United States with Serious Mental Illness (SMI). This number represented 5.6% of all U.S. adults. Serious mental illness (SMI) is defined as a mental, behavioral, or emotional disorder resulting in serious functional impairment, which substantially interferes with or limits one or more major life activities.” The symptoms of a serious mental illness can affect one's speech, mood, thinking, beliefs, or behavior. With this in mind, people living with these challenges often need assistance and support with their recovery to transition successfully into independent living and into the community at large.

Our Casa De Rosa Mental Health Residential Living Center, and our Cornerstone Mental Health Supervised Apartment Program both provide assistance with essential services critical to success, e.g., supervised housing and medication management; access and linkages to clinical, substance abuse, and medical services; coordination of care; and training in social cognition, recovery, and independent living skills.

Our Casa De Rosa Group Home served 12 unduplicated clients and our Cornerstone Supervised Apartment Program served over 21 unduplicated clients in the fiscal year ending June 30, 2022.

1. Serious Mental Illness (SMI) Among Adults. (n.d.). Prevalence of Serious Mental Illness (SMI) Retrieved June 29, 2022 from https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/statistics/mental-illness#part_154788

Often, a minor intervention is all that is needed for a person to overcome homelessness. The shelter administers a rapid re-housing program to help guests move out of the shelter quickly. The program is short-term and designed to support guests with low housing barriers. Eligible guests are stabilized upon being housed, and wrap-around services are offered to help improve the chances of long-term housing stability, which ultimately reduces community costs related to homelessness.

The Shelter’s Rapid Re-housing Program served 31 unduplicated clients and 15 households in fiscal year ending June 30, 2022.

In December of 2020, in order to augment the existing Rapid Re-housing Program at the Homeless Shelter, the organization was granted Emergency Solutions Cares Act Funds through the City of Waterbury for a two-year period. Based on need, the program provides security deposits and short-term rent assistance (usually no more than 4 months) for homeless individuals and families residing within the St Vincent DePaul Mission Shelter, or within other shelters in the city. Aftercare services are included in the design of the program to better ensure housing stability, and any reduce barriers to success.

The ESG-CV Rapid Re-housing Program has housed 52 families with 10 children during the fiscal year ending June 30, 2022.

Our Society of Support (SOS) Program provides housing assistance and long-term case management services for individuals and families living with mental health disabilities. These disabilities interfere with their housing stability, health, and self-sufficiency. Providing housing assistance in conjunction with supportive services improves housing stability, self-efficacy, and opportunities for treatment and recovery. Supportive Housing is effective, and reduces the use of crisis services that are frequently used by people who are unsupported and homeless: emergency rooms, hospitals, jails, psychiatric centers, and detoxification programs.

The Society of Support Program served 9 families and 15 singles (31 unduplicated adults and 11 unduplicated children) in the fiscal year ending June 30th 2022.

Underemployment and unemployment are often key factors in driving families to homelessness. By offering clean, safe, and affordable housing to struggling families, we are preventing homelessness, and offering a brighter future to families in need.

Our Liberty Hall Complex housed 33 unduplicated people in the fiscal year ending June 30th 2022.