Affordable housing needed, says expert.
- Jordan Wilkie/WITF
The number of people living in shelters, cars, and tents are near record highs in Berks, Lancaster and York counties.
Every year in January, federal law requires a one-night count of how many homeless people live in communities across the country. York is the most recent county to release results, counting 546 homeless people, up 19 percent from last year, a 10-year high.
The spike in homelessness mirrors the national trend of more people losing stable housing due to the loss of affordable rents and higher costs of goods, according to Kelly Bletchertas, program coordinator for the York County Coalition on Homelessness. She called the rise in rents and costs a “perfect storm” made worse by a decades-long decline in government support for homelessness…