In Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, where the median sales price has grown to $647,000 for a single-family home, the growth of food stamp usage has risen dramatically 324 percent, from 260 people in 2003 to 1,104 in 2013, while the population has only increased 23 percent, reports delawareonline.com. While beach vacationers may spend thousands on weekly rentals, many seniors on fixed incomes are living in manufactured homes (MH) that they acquired for $5,000 to $10,000 years ago, but their incomes do not keep up with the rising cost of living, especially health care costs, and the need for home repairs. The number of people the food pantry and soup kitchen serve at Epworth United Methodist Church has risen 80 percent in the last year. Ed Speraw of the Delaware Manufactured Homeowners Association says many of the seniors in MH do not have the resources to move, as MHProNews.com has learned. For those who have lived there a long time, the region simply changed around them. ##

(Photo credit: Ron MacArthur/capegazette.com–Rehoboth Shores, Delaware)