As the temperature continues to drop and winter descends upon Hoboken and its homeless population, Mayor David Roberts called a press conference Wednesday afternoon to announce several strides that had been made to provide visible and real help for the homeless.
But at the same time, the event was tinged with sadness, as Sister Norberta Hunnewinkel, the director of the city’s homeless shelter, announced that an unidentified man who had used the shelter in the past had been found dead in Hoboken earlier in the week.
"Today is a day of mixed emotions for me," Hunnewinkel said. She said that she was deeply saddened by the news of the deceased shelter patron, whose name was not released. According to Roberts, alcohol and
the elements were both factors in his death.
But Hunnewinkel said she is also grateful that city and social service agencies have come together recently to provide jobs and job training for the homeless. "The [homeless] are really delighted that they have the opportunity to work," said Hunnewinkel.
In August, Roberts formed a taskforce of community leaders, homelessness experts, social service agencies and the providers of public housing, with the goal of creating a proactive alliance to provide services and eventually public housing for members of the city’s homeless population.
The initiative has already yielded results.
Under a program called "Project Dignity," the city has hired five homeless persons, who are off drugs and alcohol, to entry-level positions in the public works department of the city for minimum wage. One of those new city workers has also recently received a housing voucher and is in the process of moving into a unit in the federally funded Hoboken Housing Authority.
Roberts was joined Wednesday by Hunnewinkel, E. Troy Washington, who is the executive director of the Hoboken Housing Authority, and Danny Altilio of the New Jersey United Way to announce the progress that the city is making.
"Providing shelter for the night is just not enough," said Roberts. "We need to be active and diligent and give those who are homeless the opportunity to get a job and have a home of their own."
Roberts added that for the process to work, there has to be clear and complete commutation and cooperation between all of the agencies involved.
More than a bed
He said the process starts at the shelter, which needs funding to provide beds at night, as well as hot meals and job training. With that goal in mind, Roberts had donated $5,000 of his own money, and the United Way donated $1,000 to the shelter.
According to Hunnewinkel, those funds will be used for several purposes.
She said that for $15 an hour or about $3,000 for the entire winter, the shelter can remain open from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. These funds will allow homeless persons the opportunity to warm up and have a place to go during the day.
The money will also be used so that the shelter can open additional beds. Normally the shelter, which is located on Bloomfield Street, has 30 beds available every night, and during the winter months all of those beds are full each night. There is a small room upstairs in the shelter where 10 beds can fit comfortably or 20 beds can be packed in, said Hunnewinkel.
Preparing for the cold
The winter is the most difficult time of year for the area’s homeless. Roberts said that when the temperature drops below 32 degrees, Hoboken police officers will "help escort and encourage" the homeless to go to the city’s shelter. Roberts was clear that homeless persons would not be arrested, but persuaded to go to the shelter when the weather is perilously cold.
"I’m very pleased that [Police Chief Carmen LaBruno] is willing to help us in this regard," said Roberts.
Last winter, an elderly homeless man was found dead in a parking lot in Jersey City’s Journal Square. His heart had stopped because of the cold.
Shelter has history
The Clergy Coalition Shelter for the Homeless opened its doors in 1982 when the disappearance of the city’s single residency occupant (SRO) housing left many of Hoboken’s elderly shipyard workers with no place to live. According to Hunnewinkel, over the years the population at the shelter has grown younger, with hurdles such as mental health issues, a lack of education, and drug or alcohol addiction.
The shelter also runs the Independent Living Program (ILP). The program, which started in 1998, combines mental health services, drug and alcohol counseling with job readiness, life skills training, computer literacy classes, support groups, and alumni services.
The ILP program also offers an arts curriculum with creative writing, dance and visual arts to help improve shelter guests’ communication skills while re-integrating them into the larger community by means of poetry readings, art exhibits and trips to the theater.
The shelter is always looking for volunteers to maintain the facilities and aid in the serving of meals from 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. It is also accepting contributions of money, clothes, and food left over from parties and entertainment functions.
For more information on how to help, contact Sister Norberta Hunnewinkel at (201) 656-5069.