Abby Hoover is reporting for Columbia-Greene Media Columbia County Department of Social Services Commissioner Bob Gibson said last week the county’s homeless population has risen during the COVID-19 crisis. “We’ve taken on 25 additional homeless since the start of this crisis,” Gibson said. “Many are the ‘silent homeless’ who we don’t usually see — they may have been sleeping at a family member’s home, but now are unable to do so owing to social-distancing guidelines. The street is nowhere for them at any point, and particularly [not] now.” Greene County Social Services Commissioner Kira Pospesel said the state sought permission from the federal government to make some needed changes to the DSS recertification process to respond to the ongoing emergency. Pospesel said she has not seen a rise in the number of unsheltered people in Greene County due to the pandemic, but there has been an increase in applications for Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program benefits and Medicaid. Read the full story at HudsonValley360 [dot] com.