At 5:45 p.m. on Feb. 4, several homeless men and women gathered in the eastern wing of the Journal Square bus and train terminal, seeking a brief respite from the cold.
Outside, the temperature was starting to drop. Snow and ice covered most of the sidewalks. Many of the individuals wore hooded sweatshirts, torn jeans, and mud-stained sneakers, and nearly all carried plastic bags filled with a few extra pieces of clothing.
This is one of the main gathering places of homeless people in Hudson County. As a result, volunteers come here each year when they conduct the Hudson County Alliance To End Homelessness’s Point-In-Time Count of the Homeless. Normally the event is held in mid-to-late January, but this year, it was postponed until Feb. 4 due to the snowstorm predicted for the original date.
“Hudson County and a number of other places are doing it today,” said Bethe Schwartz, who is a founding member of the Jersey City Homelessness Advocacy Group (JC-HAG).
Joe Conte, a local union representative, was among the volunteers.
“I do this every year,” he said. “This is something important for helping the neediest people in Hudson County.”
The final count from this year’s tally won’t be available for at least a week.
The count is important because it allows state and federal officials to appropriate the right amount of funds for helping the homeless in each county.
“The information we get from the PIT count is one of our tools we use to divide funding among areas of need for the homeless throughout the year,” said Randi Moore, division chief at the Hudson County Division of Housing and Community Development. Moore’s department is responsible for organizing the PIT count for the entire county and reports directly to HUD. Moore says the count is coordinated by the Hudson County Alliance to End Homelessness, a collaboration of Hudson non-profits including United Way and Garden State Episcopal Community Development Corporation.
More homeless than counted
The 2014 point-in-time study showed that 827 people are considered homeless, a decline of 121 since 2013. However, a survey by the county later in the year showed that this number was probably low, if one took into account the frequent overflow in the three local homeless shelters as well as a significant number of people going to the newly established warming center in Kearny.
The count last year was done on a particularly cold night, which may explain the decline. This year, volunteers were particularly vigilant at collecting data.
A report issued by the Hudson County Department of Human Services last fall showed that the count of homeless people in Hudson County may be two or three times the number indicated by the 2014 point in time count.
“You would be surprised at who is homeless. Many of these people have trades. Some are transit workers. Some were even police officers.” — Bethe Schwartz.
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The last week of January is designated by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) as the week that every county in the United States is supposed to do the count.
This year had between 30 and 40 nonprofit workers, volunteers, and county employees scouring sections of the county. The volunteers bring blankets and toiletries to give out as they gather information. They also hand out a pamphlet with contact information for various services.
This year the center of operation was moved to offices of the Garden State Episcopal Community Development Corporation on Newark Avenue where volunteers went out in shifts to count around Jersey City. Volunteers also made their way out of homeless shelters in Jersey City, Hoboken and Union City as well as the offices of the Bayonne Equal Opportunity Foundation in Bayonne and the North Hudson Community Action Program offices in West New York.
In a brief session before the volunteers hit the streets of Jersey City, Carol Sainthilaire, director for the county’s Division of Homelessness, instructed volunteers on information they needed to get. Most questions were simple such as asking where a person spent the previous night.
“You would be surprised at who is homeless,” said Schwartz. “Many of these people have trades. Some are transit workers. Some were even police officers. Many can’t hold a job simply because they have no place to live.”
A new shelter when it’s cold
Late last winter, the county established a warming center in Kearny that supplies a cot, a snack, a recreation room and a place to take a shower. A bus picks up people at the Hoboken train terminal at about 9 p.m. and at Journal Square at 9:30 p.m.
The warming center also takes overflow from the three local shelters when they reach capacity.
Evelyn Rodriguez, case manager for the county, said the difference is that the warming center does not have the same support staff that a shelter might, which is why she and her team gather a lot of information ahead of time and provide people with information about available housing and other resources while in route to the center. Most nights the warming center sees between 70 to 85 people.
The county has also abandoned the temperature rule. In the past, people on the street could be transported to the warming center and homeless shelters only if the temperature fell below 27 degrees Fahrenheit. This was modified last year to 32 degrees. This year, people can be transported at night regardless of temperature from Dec. 1 to March 15.
There are three homeless shelters in the county – the Palisades Emergency Residence Corporation (PERC) in Union City, the Hoboken Homeless Shelter, and St. Lucy’s in Jersey City. There are also some programs specifically for women and children. But these shelters do not have room for all of the homeless in the county.
The biggest cause of homelessness, according a county report last fall, was loss of job income, followed by being asked to leave a shared residence, eviction, release from jail, drug or alcohol abuse, and other factors. Oddly enough, Hurricane Sandy – which caused so many problems in Hudson County in 2012 – did not have a measurable impact on increasing homelessness.
Some of the volunteers said one of the keys solving to homelessness in Hudson County is finding affordable housing and that there are a number of initiatives being developed that will provide rapid re-housing for those at risk and possibly the redevelopment of abandoned housing in Jersey City. A recent report for the city said there were 900 abandoned properties, and activists said some of these might be used for homeless housing.
Michael Rowan, a professor at John Jay College in Manhattan, had come with a number of students to help with the county. He said he had conducted a three-year study on the relationship between homeless and the police.
While there was a brief interchange between volunteers and the Port Authority police during the survey over not blocking access to commuters, Rowan said before the county established its warming center in Kearny, police officers frequently allowed homeless to access to their offices during brutally cold nights.
Al Sullivan may be reached at asullivan@hudsonreporter.com.