HOUSING

The facility would have a day center for vulnerable community members including the unhoused and provide lockers, showers, and internet access. It would also be a place for them to connect to available social services.

The Berkshire Athenaeum, the Pittsfield, Massachusetts library, made it a practice not to ask people who were sleeping outside to move along. But now, after an accidental fire that damaged a window, loitering is banned when the library is closed.

Despite falling temperatures, some people in western Massachusetts without homes are sleeping outside — camping on public or private land, or curling up outside of storefronts, churches and libraries. It takes resourcefulness and fellowship to survive.

According to a recent study, more than half of Vermont’s farmworker housing units are in need of repairs, including for health and safety issues.

A Western Mass Economic Development Council survey of Springfield residents impacted by the justice system shows 40% of respondents did not know how or where to connect to local resources for assistance.

It’s no secret that the rental market is competitive in Connecticut. And now census data backs that up. In fact, the state has the lowest rental vacancy rate in the country.

Massachusetts voters are concerned about the cost of housing, which 60% picked as deserving the most focus, followed by the cost of food at 58% and inflation at 55%.

A bylaw in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, would restrict owner-occupied properties to renting out rooms for no more than 150 days a year.

One proposal would limit the number of days and the number of units that can be rented short-term; the other would set no limits on the number of days or rooms.

In Massachusetts, some advocates want hotel-based shelters to become the standard, while others say the focus should be on creating permanent supportive housing.