“Luis and Tammy Figueroa outside their home in the Whispering Hollow neighborhood in Allen Township, where they live with their three small children, on Thursday Feb, 6, 2020. This was their first home they bought together, in December 2018.” (JANE THERESE / Special to The Morning Call)

by Kayla Dwyer

“It only took four months for Tammy Figueroa to realize renting was not for her, or her husband and three little children.

“She was scrolling on Facebook when she came across a listing for what would become their first home together: a tiny three-bedroom, two-bathroom cottage in Allen Township. She thought it was cute; her husband said, ‘No way.’

“The 924-square-foot home was only $14,000.

“Then she noticed in the listing that it was a manufactured home — a mobile home, or the ‘T-word,’ trailer — but it didn’t end up mattering.”

Read this Morning Call article in its entirety, click here.

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by Christopher Mazur

“The realities of homelessness upend many common assumptions about its causes—and potential solutions—an expert argues.”

“Antonio DeSilva, who is currently homeless, plays with his dogs outside his tent on September 09, 2019 in Los Angeles, California.” (Credit: Mario Tama/Getty Images)

“On a single night in January 2018, the US Department of Housing and Urban Development collected nationwide data to determine there are now about 553,000 homeless people across the country—or nearly the same number as the entire the population of Albuquerque, New Mexico.

“While that is an improvement on the estimated 647,000 homeless Americans in 2007, it also reflects a lingering inability to solve a four-decade-old national crisis.

“What exactly caused the American homeless rate to reach and sustain such heights? Some have cited the shutting of mental hospitals in the 1970s. Others have pointed to the lack of safety nets for military veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder.”

Read this article at Futurity.org.

Pennsylvania’s “Estate Recovery Program allows the commonwealth to recover Medical Assistance payments from the estate of an individual who was 55 years of age or older when they started receiving nursing facility services or home and community-based services. These payments must have been provided on or after August 15, 1994, the effective date of the Act.”

“Established under federal law, this program requires the Department of Human Services to recover the Medical Assistance costs from the estates of individuals who have died. Repayment is required for the amount the state paid, even if the individuals paid part of the bill themselves or through insurance. If an individual 55 years of age or older received certain Medical Assistance benefits and dies, the department will reimburse the Medical Assistance program by recovering these costs from the assets of the person’s estate. An estate exists when a person dies and his or her assets are distributed by will or state law. All monies collected by the Medical Assistance Estate Recovery Program are returned to the Department of Human Services’ long-term care programs to assist others in need of long-term care services.”

Click on the graphic to download the Medical Assistance Estate Recovery Plan Program.