VT's Homeless Problem Takes a Disturbing Turn: Squatting

[handmade34]

"...In Chittenden County, where most of the state’s soup kitchens, food shelves and service agencies are located, the homeless population has more than doubled in two years — from 424 in 2008 to 916 this year. The number of children in those totals jumped from 86 kids two years ago to 256 today...Currently, there’s a two-month wait for beds at the family shelters run by COTS. The agency issues motel vouchers to qualifying families it cannot accommodate. However, the two shelters for single adults — the Waystation on lower Church Street and the Eagles’ Nest on St. Paul Street — are not at capacity. Markley guesses it’s because of the shelter’s rules..."



http://www.7dvt.com/2010homeless-squatting

[Kayla2010]

1. This is the problem.

'Rita Markley, executive director of COTS, blames the trend on a lack of affordable housing and the impact of the recession. For the past decade, she says, wages have remained flat, even as the price of health care, rent, utilities and gasoline continued to climb. For many Vermonters, the result has been financially ruinous, she says.

“When the sky started to fall, many people didn’t have a buffer,” Markley says. “It’s impossible to set aside savings when you’re spending every dime to keep pace.”'