| John W. Graham Emergency Shelter for the Homeless in Vergennes, VT |
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Housing and Homelessness Vermont - The Fair Market Rent for a modest two-bedroom apartment in Vermont was $723 in 2005, a 29% increase since 1996. A household would have to earn - In Chittenden County, Vermont, the Fair Market Rent for a similar modest two-bedroom apartment is $935. - The median purchase price for a Vermont home in 2005 was $182,000, an increase of 87% since 1996. To afford that price, a household’s income would have to be roughly $65,000; 72% of Vermont households have annual incomes below that figure. - Housing is increasingly hard to find and this has resulted in longer Shelter stays. The average stay in a Vermont shelter was 12 days in 2000, that number rose to 26 days by 2004. Nationwide - There is no jurisdiction in the United States in which a full time job at the prevailing minimum wage (either federal or state) provides enough income to allow a household to afford a two-bedroom home at the region’s fair market rent. - A person working full-time has to earn an average of $15.21 per hour to be able to afford rent on a modest two-bedroom home. That is almost three times the federal minimum wage and is more than 1.5 times the 2005 poverty line for a family of four with two parents and two children. - Approximately 35.8 million people lived below the poverty line in 2003. For a family of four with two parents and two children in 2005, that would mean a total household income less than $19,806. - 63% of households living below the poverty line have one or more full-time worker. - One out of every eight US families (14 million total) pay more than half of their income for housing or live in substandard, run-down housing. - A joint study by the Annie E. Casey Fund and the Ford Foundation found that “9.2 million families earn wages so low they can’t provide for basic needs.” 20 million children live in theses families. Homelessness Statistics - 44% of the homeless population are employed. - 62% of the homeless population have a high school diploma. - 23% of homeless adults are veterans, 33% of homeless men are veterans. - 57% of the homeless population report having experienced a mental health problem at some point during their lifetime. - 25% report having experienced physical and/or sexual abuse as a child from someone with whom they lived. - 23% of the adult homeless population have a mental illness.
- A study comparing costs both before and after the use of supportive housing found that after supportive housing programs were introduced, there was:- A 56% decline in emergency room use.- A 37% reduction in hospital inpatient days. - An 89% decline in days spent in residential alcohol and drug treatment. - A 44% reduction in days sentenced to incarceration. - A near total elimination of residential mental health care outside of hospitals. Source: Committee on Temporary Shelter, Burlington, Vermont (www.cotsonline.org) and "Key Data Concerning Homeless Persons in America," National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty, July 2004 (www.nlchp.org) |
$13.90 per hour to afford that fair market rent. At least 56% of Vermont workers are in occupations with median wages below $13.90.
- The National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty estimates that 40% of homeless people are eligible for SSI, but only 11% receive it. |