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Quirky_Butterfly_946 t1_j42765p wrote

Are any of these women getting in contact with their local Council on Aging? There is also a housing authority in most if not all towns that can get people into income based apartments.

I frankly found the article to be pedestrian with little information as to why these women are living outside, not in a shelter, or otherwise engaged with housing support.

Since these women are fully functioning adults, should they not be able to get into a homeless diversion program until permanent housing can be found.

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GigiGretel t1_j42tyrp wrote

>There is also a housing authority in most if not all towns that can get people into income based apartments.

And there is a huge waiting list.

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Ok-Lengthiness446 t1_j42zrbe wrote

They can apply for section 8, but it takes years to come up on the list, and even then they only give you 30 days to secure section 8 approved housing - which can be damn near impossible, especially with discriminatory landlords who conveniently loose emails and applications from those on section 8.

The waiting list for Income-based apartments is up to ten years. Properties that could have been developed into affordable housing have been purchased by corporate landlords who, instead of offering units at reasonable rents, drive up market values by listing vacant apartments going for twice what they did three years ago. They do not care if they remain vacant until the people making $30/hr+ rent them, and wages are half that - if you’re lucky.

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IntelligentMeal40 t1_j42hbig wrote

I don’t know how it works in Massachusetts but I’m in New Hampshire the shelters are pretty much always full. I also know that a lot of the housing authorities have stopped taking waitlist applications for section 8 because it’s a wait list is about nine years long in most places. Public housing is probably a shorter wait, but it still takes a couple years.

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Teratocracy t1_j44r2ko wrote

Emergency shelters are overwhelmed and the waiting lists for subsidized permanent housing are years long. This state is in the midst of a housing crisis that requires institutional level intervention. Individuals cannot be expected to just beat the system on their own.

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paganlobster t1_j436sox wrote

The article covered everything you mentioned. Shelters are full, and housing vouchers can be attained but the section 8 housing supply is far too low to meet demand.

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