SALISBURY, Md. \u2014 At its most recent meeting, the Salisbury City Council discussed supportive housing and its connection to homelessness in the community. Officials explained how the two issues are intertwined.<\/p>\n
Danielle Meister, assistant secretary of the Division of Homeless Solutions at Maryland, said, \u201cHomelessness feels like an intractable problem, where we don\u2019t feel like we know how to solve it, but we actually do. We have tons of experience at this point, knowing that the best way out of homelessness is housing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Meister said supportive housing is crucial for disabled and elderly individuals, as most of them are not re-entering the workforce. \u201cIt\u2019s important to meet people where they are,\u201d she added. \u201cThey don\u2019t have to jump through a bunch of hoops to get housing or stay in housing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Meister commended the City of Salisbury for investing in permanent supportive housing. She noted that affordability and jobs with livable wages are a nationwide issue. \u201cEvery $100 increase in rent brings the homelessness rate up by 9%,\u201d Meister said. \u201cThere\u2019s a direct correlation between the housing built in your community, how affordable it is, and your rates of homelessness.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kevin Lindamood, CEO of Healthcare for the Homeless, applauded Salisbury\u2019s efforts but said more needs to be done. \u201cIn no jurisdiction in the country, including right here in Wicomico County, can a family earn the prevailing minimum wage,\u201d Lindamood said. \u201cIn Maryland, that\u2019s $15 an hour, and in no jurisdiction can someone afford a modest two-bedroom apartment.\u201d<\/p>\n
Local Salisbury resident Cristi Richardson, who helps unhoused people apply for apartments, said there are numerous barriers to securing housing. \u201cTo afford the median rent here on minimum wage, they would have to work at least 73 hours a week \u2014 just to afford housing for one person,\u201d Richardson said. \u201cThat\u2019s not feasible if they have children.\u201d<\/p>\n
The City Council invited both officials to speak just over a month after Mayor Randy Taylor discussed implementing a \u201cgateway to independent living.\u201d\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\tTags: affordability<\/a>, disabled<\/a>, elderly<\/a>, homeless<\/a>, homelessness<\/a>, housing<\/a>, intractable problem<\/a>, minimum wage<\/a>, rent<\/a>, supportive housing<\/a>, workforce<\/a>\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SALISBURY, Md. \u2014 At its most recent meeting, the Salisbury City Council discussed supportive housing and its connection…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":314742,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[192,79],"class_list":["post-314741","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-environment","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/314741","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=314741"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/314741\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/314742"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=314741"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=314741"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=314741"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}