Fewer Vermonters identified as homeless

The number of Vermonters identified as homeless in Chittenden County fell precipitously since last year, showing greater improvement than the overall state homeless count, according to the annual Point-In-Time Count.

The census, organized by Vermont Coalition to End Homelessness and Chittenden County Homeless Alliance, is an unduplicated count of people experiencing homelessness on the night of January 27.

Homelessness declined by 11.5 percent in Chittenden County and by 2.3 percent for the state as a whole. A total of 1,523 Vermonters were identified as homeless. In 2014, Chittenden County experienced a 9 percent increase.

A factor contributing to homelessness in the state is the high cost and low availability of housing, said Margaret Bozik, co-chairwoman of Chittenden County Homeless Alliance and associate director of asset management and program development at Champlain Housing Trust. Drug abuse and domestic violence can be other contributing factors.

Chittenden County has found some success housing people experiencing chronic homelessness through the 100,000 Homes campaign, which started last fall, Bozik said. The community-based campaign seeks out people who are homeless and lines up services and money to provide them with housing.

"We need to create more rental housing stock to truly bend the curve in the right direction — especially with a vacancy rate persistently below 1 percent," Bozik said in a statement.

A recent report by the National Low Income Housing Coalition showed that a household must earn an hourly wage of $20.68 per hour to afford fair market rent in Vermont. That is about $1,075 for a two-bedroom apartment.

View the report: http://helpingtohousevt.org/point-in-time-counts/

Contact Paris Achen at 802-660-1874 and pachen@freepressmedia.com. Follow her at www.twitter.com/parisachen and https://www.facebook.com/ColTrends