New report highlights how lack of affordable housing leads to homelessness

This report draws from two-and-a half years of study by the Welfare-to-Work Commission’s Supportive Housing Work Group.  It assesses the critical shortage of housing for Suffolk’s most vulnerable residents at risk of becoming homeless: working-poor people earning under 50 percent of the Area Median Income ($55,400 for a family of four) and, more pointedly, people with mental illness who need supportive housing. The most recent count found 3,868 homeless people on Long Island. It costs Suffolk $19 million a year to shelter the homeless. Click to read the report: SWTW supportive housing report with cover letter