Jeanette Wolfberg is reporting in the Columbia Paper the number of homeless people receiving or awaiting county aid this month was the highest since March, according to the Columbia County Department of Social Services. The homeless rate usually decreases in the summer. DSS Commissioner Kary Jablonka told the county Board of Supervisors Human Services Committee last week that tackling the homeless issue is a priority for his agency. According to the records maintained by DSS, the number of homeless countywide increased from 34 in June, to 55 in July. A lack of emergency and transitional housing and public transportation are factors in the increase, according to some county officials. No mention was made of the changing housing market in the city of Hudson and the county. Columbia County currently houses its homeless population in motels. However, some people have resorted to living in a tent city located in the woods near the DSS building in Hudson, said a DSS official. At the meeting, Hudson Second Ward Supervisor Ed Cross expressed some frustration with the county's efforts to remedy the situation. He said that several times in his many years as supervisor he has heard the “same dialogue” about the homeless. “We get almost ready. And then two years later, we have the same problem,” he said. Read the full story in the Columbia Paper.