As Beth Davis and her husband move further into their 70s, they’re reckoning with the practicality of life in their home in Shoreham.

“We’re getting older, you know?” Davis said. “We’re starting to have issues that old people have — physical, mental.”

It’s not their own housing situation they’re most concerned about, however. Rather it’s what happens to their 43-year-old son when they can no longer provide the supportive housing environment he needs.

The shortage of housing for the 3,400 Vermont adults with developmental and intellectual disabilities who qualify for supportive living arrangements is about to get worse as the parents many of them live with grow older. And as the Davis family has learned in recent years, there often aren’t any options for families making that transition.

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