The Mid-Hudson News Network reports in the Daily Freeman reports a 24.1 percent increase in homelessness in Columbia and Greene counties last year, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Homeless cases in the two counties rose from 116 in January 2016 to 144 in January 2017. Across the eight-county Hudson Valley region the homeless figure rose 6.7 percent. Ulster County had the largest increase at 25.3 percent, with 411 people considered homeless as of January. According to Hudson River Housing executive director Christa Hines, the 60-bed Poughkeepsie shelter is full every night. “What we really need is more permanent affordable housing,” Hines said. “We don’t want any more shelters; it’s not an ideal situation for folks. So we definitely want to be building more or retrofitting existing spaces for affordable housing for the very low-income people.” Read the full story in the Daily Freeman.