CT housing case workers report significant burnout as the state’s housing crisis worsens

When someone seeking housing assistance in the Greater Hartford area calls Connecticut’s 211 helpline, they’re directed to Nicole Barracliff.

Barracliff is a diversion triage specialist. Her job is to connect people who are unhoused or facing eviction to services that can help find them a temporary or permanent place to stay.

As Connecticut’s housing crisis worsens and the state’s unhoused population rises, the impact deepens, and it’s not just affecting those seeking housing. Many housing case workers, like Barracliff, are feeling burned out.

Baracliff sat in her office, cradling a pink mug of coffee with an image of a Care Bear on the front. She was also speaking on the phone with a man facing homelessness.

“They’ll provide you anything they have to keep you as safe and comfortable as possible, but they wouldn’t be able to offer you like an immediate shelter bed anywhere, unfortunately,” Barracliff tells the man.

Barracliff joined Community Housing Advocates about two years ago. The nonprofit organization works to place individuals and families in affordable housing and is the parent organization of My Sister’s Place , a local shelter for women and their children.

She’s felt overwhelmed ever since COVID-19 benefits expired last year — benefits that helped residents across the state. With the expiration of state and federal benefits came an increase in demand for housing.

Barracliff often finds herself having to tell clients there’s no immediate housing option.

“Small success stories, they do help, and they mean a lot, like they make your heart happy,” Barracliff said. “But there’s just so many like, day to day, you just feel like you’re never doing enough.”

Last year, she says she fielded nearly 2,500 calls for aid, from warming shelter beds to help with a security deposit. So far this year, those numbers are trending about the same or slightly higher.

To decompress, she takes midday walks or unfolds the futon in her office.

“If we have a really bad phone call, I’ll open it up and just sit by the window with the air and just have a moment,” Barracliff said.

The homelessness crisis deepens

Homelessness in Connecticut has risen 13 percent over the last year.

There are various reasons for the increase, including inflation, rising housing costs and the fallout from COVID-19 benefits expiring.

Since last year, the number of COVID-19-funded homeless shelter programs in Connecticut dropped by nearly half, from 41 to 20, according to an annual homelessness report.

Case workers are struggling to manage both the demand of housing requests and the inability to help everyone who calls. That’s affecting employees’ mental health.

Job stress can weigh on case workers, leading to burnout, according to Jennifer Paradis, chief executive officer of Beth-El Center and homeless shelter in Milford.

“It’s traumatic, and I think we need to really be thinking about, what is the impact of trauma?” Paradis said. “It directly impacts your health, the idea that you can become sick, that you could become ill because of the exposure to trauma and crisis in your workplace.”

Frontline workers who help people seeking shelter often struggle with decompression, Paradis said.

“We think about self-care as, ‘I’m gonna go get a massage,’ but self-care is, ‘How do I feel comfortable in my body while I’m continuing to walk into a workplace that is traumatizing, because I love it?’” Paradis said.

Case worker careers

Another issue caseworkers face is relatively low pay. The average salary is about $20 to $26 an hour, which contributes to high turnover rates, according to Kellyann Day, chief executive officer of the nonprofit New Reach, which operates shelters in Bridgeport and New Haven.

The turnover rate has gone up in recent years for social service providers at New Reach, Day said.

“We track our turnover rate at the agency, and it is absolutely increased. In many cases, it’s doubled some years; our turnover used to be well under 10%,” Day said.

The variety of factors has led to some case workers ending up in the same situation as those they were hired to help, Day said.

“We’ve had staff during the pandemic who’ve become unstably housed, and some cases, had to actually request shelter while they were working for our agencies,” Day said.

Adding to the job’s stress is a common misunderstanding of the role and education level of frontline workers fielding requests for housing and assistance.

It’s often assumed the people answering calls for shelter are volunteers. But the roles are paid positions that also require a bachelor’s degree and sometimes other certifications. Workers must also have the ability to work emergency shifts, Day said.

There are no programs aimed at treating provider stress or preventing burnout, according to Stephanie Corbin, programs director at Mercy Housing Corporation and My Sister’s Place, under Community Housing Advocates.

Individual organizations are left to use typical employee assistance programs and establish their own appreciation days and share self-care training.

Solving the homelessness crisis

For Barracliff, the pain of her job springs up at odd moments.

“When you’re driving around in your car with your kids and you’re laughing, you’re going to football, and you’re doing normal things, and you look over and you see somebody not doing those things, because they can’t, that are very clearly unhoused,” Barracliff said.

Homeless service and shelter workers agree that while there’s no one solution to the housing and homeless crisis, an influx of funding is a place to start.

There are other countries that have solved homelessness, and the United States should follow their lead, said Kara Capone, Community Housing Advocates’ chief executive officer.

“It is completely solvable. If the resources were brought to bear to do it,” Capone said. “We need the political will in this state and in this country to do that. We can do this. The problem is whether or not people want to fund it.”

Getting unhoused people in homes will certainly be a relief to those seeking a roof over their heads. But frontline workers say that will also help them feel better about their work.

Barracliff said affordability is the main concern and more affordable apartments would help.

“People who even have income can’t afford a unit, or to keep up with a unit,” Barracliff said. “We’ve gotten clients a security deposit, and they end up in a unit, and then the rent raises and they can’t afford it.

“They’ll call back next year. There’s not any right answer.”

This story was first published Sept. 3, 2024 by Connecticut Public.