www.HartfordBusiness.com • January 14, 2019 • Hartford Business Journal 3
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Richard Cho | CEO, Connecticut Coalition to End Homelessness
By Sean Teehan
steehan@hartfordbusiness.com
S
ince his time as an intern for the AIDS Hous-
ing Corp. in 1999, Richard Cho has focused
his career on working to end homelessness.
The Chicago native, who now lives in Hamden,
started work as chief executive of the Hartford-
based nonprofit Connecticut Coalition to End
Homelessness in November. As he assumes the
nonprofit's corner office,
Cho says an important
focus will be preventing
people from becoming
homeless in the first place.
That includes reaching
out to state and private
partners to see what kinds
of resources they're in need
of, and using available data
to determine homelessness-
related issues that have been neglected.
"What is remarkable is that we now have the
data to be able to better pinpoint what needs
improvement and what specific resources it will
take to end homelessness in Hartford and in
every region in the state," Cho said.
Cho takes the helm just as Connecticut re-
corded a 17.4 percent increase in homelessness
in 2018, with 3,976 people taking refuge in emer-
gency shelters or transitional housing, according
to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban
Development. However, a large number of those
dislocated residents included Hurricane Maria
evacuees from Puerto Rico, state officials said.
How responsible is the business community in
Greater Hartford, or any city, for contributing to
solving homelessness and problems associated
with it?
We have seen some real leadership in Hartford
and around the state on this issue. Local busi-
nesses show their support for Journey Home and
other members of our coalition. They also support
Connecticut Coalition to End Homelessness both
financially and through our private-sector work-
ing group, an innovative group of leaders from
companies like Microsoft, ESPN, Synchrony, CT
REALTORS Foundation and Bank of America, who
meet every other month to help us think about how
the business community can play a role in ending
homelessness.
How will you engage the business community?
I am interested in my first months to sit down
with chief executives and top leadership from
Hartford and around the state to think together
about how we can work to make homelessness
rare, brief and non-recurring for people in our
state. Our state's business community has played
a role in ending homelessness locally but could
do much more.
For example, it has been inspiring to see busi-
ness leaders from major Hartford companies
come together to play a role in revitalizing Hart-
ford through a ground-breaking commitment
to making sure that the Hartford Public Library
continues to flourish.
What local issues exacerbate and diminish
homelessness?
The common denominator is housing inse-
curity: people already facing a number of other
challenges — poverty, job loss, mental illness,
domestic violence — reach a point where they not
only lose their homes but also lose their ability to
re-establish a home. This is exacerbated locally by
everything from the shrinking of housing avail-
ability at the lower-cost end of the market, land-
lord practices that lead to evictions, the lack of
job opportunities, low wages, and the lack of clear
ways to navigate services and systems of help.
Fortunately, we know that the solution to
homelessness is to provide varying levels of
support and assistance to help individuals and
families obtain permanent housing as quickly as
possible, while also helping people on the verge
of homelessness to keep their housing.
How does homelessness affect businesses in
Hartford, or any city/community?
Homelessness is an expensive social problem,
placing a strain on public services like law enforce-
ment, first responders and EMTs, as well as emer-
gency rooms, hospitals and jails that are all funded
by tax dollars. Not to mention the economic loss
associated with people experiencing homelessness
not participating in the local economy.
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