Vermont residents continue to feel the affects of Tropical Storm Irene, with manufactured home parks hit hardest. Residents of the Patterson Park manufactured home community, which took a “direct hit” from Irene, found their homes to damaged to be repaired, and so were forced to destroy them. Living in a state with low rental vacancy rates and on average the 15th-highest rents in the country means former Patterson Park residents are now paying rents the can’t afford, if they managed to find a place to rent at all.

Meanwhile in Connecticut, the shift from owning to renting is hitting this already expensive state hard, with 27% of households spending up to 50% of their income on rent. Connecticut’s housing wage is the 6th highest in the nation, though both median household income and median renter household income are on the decline.