One mother of three was a shampoo assistant at a salon. Others were night-shift warehouse workers or restaurant workers.
They are among the growing number of Howard County residents forced into homelessness by rising housing costs and the scarcity of low-income housing, an official with a local shelter program says. “We need these workers in Howard County, and yet they are really not able to support themselves in Howard County housing,” said Andrea Ingram, executive director of the Grassroots Intervention Center, which provides the county?s only emergency shelter program.
This week, construction will begin on a new Grassroots facility. The new facility will provide 55shelter rooms, up from 32, and several rooms for counseling. Last year, 591 individuals were housed at the center, but 2,070 people were turned away. In the last five years, the county poverty level has nearly doubled to more than 4 percent, said Lynne Nemeth, capital campaign manager who helped coordinate the $4.6 million pledge campaign for the new facility.
Rising rents and a three-year moratorium on subsidized housing vouchers has contributed to the increase, Ingram said. In most cases, residents are making about $15,000 a year and less, falling below the qualification level for affordable housing.
“When most people talk about affordable housing, that doesn?t begin to touch the people we serve,” Ingram said. “These people need subsidized housing.”
In 2005, the median monthly cost for renters in the county was $1,109, and 39 percent of renters spent 30 percent or more of their income on housing, according to U.S. census data. Meanwhile, the average house costs more than $425,000, according to the census.
To receive federal housing funding, the county must develop a 10-year plan to end chronic homelessness, an effort under way by the Department of Citizen Services.
