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'Nowhere to go': Section 8 recipients struggling to find homes - YouTube
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out to a target 12 investigators
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exclusive more than 25 thousand rhode
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islanders are on a wait list for section
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8 housing highlighting the need for
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financial help amid a housing crisis but
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even for people with the vouchers many
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still can't find a place to live target
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12 consumer investigator sarah granelli
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has more on how people are struggling
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the maximum amount of section 8 vouchers
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the state can give out each year is
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nearly 11 000 but because of soaring
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grants we found it's often not enough
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the housing crisis in rhode island is
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being felt by thousands of low-income
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families looking for a home i've been
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looking for a new place for almost a
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year and a half now mercedes patients
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receives financial support through the
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federal housing program called section
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8. her landlord is selling the home she
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and her six children live in which means
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she will likely have to move but because
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of the lack of open apartments coupled
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with a soaring cost of rent mercedes
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says she's had no luck finding a new
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place to live
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for a four bedroom a good 2000 and up
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you know and my voucher
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is every time i find something it's not
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enough
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her friend latoya walmsley says she was
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on section 8 for years and knows the
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struggles all too well
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the program is made to help low-income
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people and right now it's hurting them
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for someone who qualifies for a section
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8 voucher they must pay about 30 percent
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of their income towards rent the
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remaining 70 percent is covered by the
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federal government through local public
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housing authorities but latoya argues
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it's now not enough
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voucher amounts are not enough to meet
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up with the current
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rent rates
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here's a real life example
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for a seven person family living in a
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four bedroom apartment like mercedes you
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would pay 725 dollars a month for rent
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on a two thousand dollar apartment in
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providence a voucher would cover the
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rest but like mercedes having a voucher
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doesn't guarantee you can find a place
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to live they're having difficulty
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finding available units anywhere
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regardless of price there are just not a
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lot of vacant units in the community
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michael declare of rhode island housing
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says he understands the difficulty of
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finding an apartment rhode island
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housing is one of several housing
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authorities in the state
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decaro says they have increased voucher
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payments to 120 percent of fair market
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rent the highest allowable amount but
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still demand is too high in many cases
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and housing supply is low we also issue
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vouchers to folks that have to turn them
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in because they can't find a unit while
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some are giving them back more than 25
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thousand people are on the waiting list
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for vouchers but right now
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the average weight is about two and a
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half years on the wait list
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a year ago it was a little over three
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years so there have been folks moving
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through the system for some people
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that's time that they don't have to be
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on a wait list or find a new place to
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live like her in 90 days if she doesn't
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find anything where is she going to go
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with her kids
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you know
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it's sad to think that she may not have
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nowhere to go
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coming up at six a look at what
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initiatives the state is taking to help
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those who are struggling to find housing
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with the target 12 investigators sarah
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cornelli 12 news
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now a target 12 investigators exclusive
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we first told you at five how more than
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25 thousand rhode islanders are on the
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waiting list to get section 8 housing
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new at six we check in with state
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leaders to see how they're addressing
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the housing crisis target 12 consumer
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investigator sarah grinnelli has more
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housing officials say the ongoing
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housing crisis in rhode island is even
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harder for people relying on section 8
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vouchers the new state budget just
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approved by lawmakers includes hundreds
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of millions of dollars to address the
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issue but some say these homes can't
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come soon enough
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latoya walmsley was on section 8 for
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eight years until she was able to land
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herself a job with the state now she's
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standing up for those who are struggling
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to find housing in rhode island
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i would like to see
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more housing be created
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for
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more low-income people section 8 to
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revise their program and up the voucher
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amounts you know for people so that it
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could be affordable more than 8 000
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people are currently using the federal
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voucher program but because the state
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only has a limited amount of federal
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dollars each year more than 25 thousand
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rhode islanders are currently on the
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wait list that was back in
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2004 i think i applied for i waited 11
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years to get section 80. wait times vary
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and on average it takes about two and a
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half years to get one which puts rhode
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island 30th in the nation for wait times
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according to federal data slightly
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better than massachusetts which ranks
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second to last but even when families
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finally get a voucher like mercedes
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patients and her six children they still
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can't find a new home i've been looking
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for over a year and a half
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and i haven't found nothing walmsley
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says the ongoing housing crisis and
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soaring rent makes it hard for lower
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income people to compete for the limited
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number of available apartments right now
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i've know people that have been looking
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for apartments for two
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the past two years and can't find
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anything channel 12 sat down with josh
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sal the deputy secretary of commerce for
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housing to learn more about what the
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state is doing to help combat the
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housing crisis
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what do you think the state needs to do
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to help these people
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so this is directly tied to how little
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rhode island has historically invested
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in housing
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vacancy rates fell below 3 percent right
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now which is having an effect on
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everyone especially those with section 8
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vouchers according to sal can talk about
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housing all we want and
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things like source of income
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discrimination or vouchers we have but
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we don't have physical units no matter
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of your low income or medium income or
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you're a school teacher or a senior on a
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fixed income you're going to have
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trouble finding housing to try and
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address the issue sal says his
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department is spearheading a statewide
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housing plan the money is coming from
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the new budget governor dan mckee signed
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this week in it includes 100 million
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dollars for the development of
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affordable housing
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20 million dollars for those who are
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experiencing homelessness or housing
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instability and 25 million dollars for
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the acquisition of properties to be
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redeveloped into affordable and
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supportive housing the entire initiative
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is a quarter of a billion dollars any
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idea how long this might take
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considering the housing crisis is here
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now
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it's a big challenge and we have a long
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ways to go in terms of catching up sal
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says building new housing could take
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years for latoya she says her friends
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and family need the help now there's
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going to be a lot of people homeless
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there's a lot of people that have
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section 8 and the landlords want them
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out because
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they want more rent
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because of the high cost of living the
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housing authority says they're paying
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120 percent of fair market rent which is
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the highest payable amount the federal
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government will allow with the target 12
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investigators sarah cornelli 12 news
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