Social Security Delays Fill Homeless Shelters

From WSOC-TV in Charlotte:

Kathy White said it's been more than a year since she had a place to live.

"They do a lot for us here," White said, referring to the Center of Hope women's shelter. “But I'd much rather have my own place and be on my own.”

White said a long wait for disability benefits is what is keeping her from a place of her own. She said she’s been waiting for two years.

"They end up homeless because they end up losing their job," Deronda Metz, the shelter's director, said. "They come to the shelter and then they begin that process."

Metz said that contributes to overcrowding issues at the shelter, forcing some women to sleep on cots and the floor.

At the men's shelter on North Tryon Street, officials said 20 percent of the men are waiting on benefits.