"Housing aid is on rise in Gloucester"
by Lisa Capone

Recipients of housing aid from Gloucester's Action Inc. more than doubled between 2000 and 2001, and nearly one of every 10 Cape Ann residents turned to the antipoverty agency for help with rent, utility bills, or other services last year, Action planner Chanda Millett said.

An Action Inc. survey showed that 511 people received housing assistance in 2001 in the form of emergency rent payments, budget counseling, and legal aid for those facing evictions. Millett said that number jumped from 227 in 2000. The survey also revealed increases in fuel assistance, emergency shelter, and employment and training services. In all, the agency provided services to 5,253 people last year.

The increase in demand for services comes in the face of state budget cuts that affect Action's bottom line, Millett added.

''We're really struggling for level funding. We're advocating for just keeping the funding levels ... which in essence is a cut even though we're level-funded, because of cost of living,'' she said.

This appeared in the Boston Sunday Globe North Weekly Section 4/22/02 page 2