SALISBURY, Md.- The city of Salisbury says more people are moving into it’s tiny home village for the homeless, or Anne Street Village. Muir Boda, director of housing and community development for the city says the city is now hosting 14 people at its Anne Street Village.
“We go through phases where we have a lot of people there and then some will migrate out of the program for variety of reasons so when that happens, we go through the process of interviewing people who may qualify for Anne Street,” said Boda.
In total since opening, Anne Street has housed 31 people. Boda says there is an increase of people from outside of Salisbury coming to the city for refuge.
“There’s also an influx of people coming to Salisbury. Earlier this year we saw migration from Somerset County to Salisbury when they closed the shelter and a lot of them came up here. We see people from the Eastern Shore of Virginia, we know there are organizations throughout the state who are sending people here,” said Boda. “When they know that there’s a resource people send people here.”
Anthony Dickerson, director of the Christian Shelter in Salisbury says he is observing the same trend.
People are coming from Baltimore, people are coming from Delaware, because Delaware, believe it or not, they don’t have resources where people experiencing homelessness can go,” said Boda. “They’re also coming here from New York. We have two guests here from New York.”
Dickerson says the Christian Shelter is turning away up to 50 people each day because the shelter does not have any open beds.
"Definitely the face of homelessness has changed, and we are seeing it," said Dickerson.
Another issue Boda mentioned was the lack of affordable housing in Salisbury. Boda says there are people living at Anne Street Village but there is no affordable housing available in Wicomico County.