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For years, Middletown officials have talked about bringing affordable municipal senior housing to the community. On Monday afternoon, the town took its initial step to making that goal a reality with the first business meeting of the Middletown Senior Housing Committee. A subgroup of the Town Council, the body was created recently as a way for the town to study the issue and try to create some senior housing. Unlike its neighbors in Newport and Portsmouth, Middletown doesn’t have senior housing of its own.

It’s not a question of if more affordable housing for seniors is coming to Middletown, but when. That is the message from Town Council President Robert Sylvia, who said it is time for the community to do more to help its elderly population.

Hundreds of Rhode Island children are starting the school year without a permanent place to live, forcing them to stay with other families, in motels or in the most dire circumstances, on the streets. But a homeless shelter in Middletown is working to support families by assisting mothers to find jobs and affordable housing while also trying to keep children from falling off track in school.

Several Rhode Island towns are facing negative impacts after being notified in late July that many of the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) applications for local programs and agencies will not receive the funding they typically see. Locally, six social services programs applied for a total of $136,702 to fund several projects in the area, and after the meeting in late July, East Greenwich, along with many other towns across the state, were notified that none of their applications from the Plan Year 2016 will receive funding.