Media Coverage

Suburban Trends
By Donna Rolando, Staff Writer
January 17, 2007

Passaic County and NewBridge to count homeless people on Jan. 25

Passaic County wants people it can count on-and people it can count-for its first Project Homeless Connect Day on Jan. 25.

"This is the first for the state and for the county," said Jay Boxwell, chairman of the Passaic County event and active on the county's task force to end chronic homelessness.

"It's been done in San Francisco and replicated quite a few times with success," said Boxwell, hoping that New Jersey's Project Homeless Connect with get the same results.

It is one day a year when the county tries to capture a "snapshot," says county consultant Randi Moore, of its homeless population. One expert from NewBridge, a social service agency, has put that population at 1,500 without a home or at risk of losing a home at any given time in Passaic County alone.

Project Homeless Connect is also a time when Passaic County tries to match up resources with those in need, providing coats and other giveaways to needy participants.

So Passaic County requires not only people to count (as in the homeless) but people to count on, those being volunteers and agencies that can be on hand to highlight their services.

Meeting a variety of basic needs, "it's like a one-stop shop to provide folks some resources," said boxwell, who has firsthand knowledge of housing needs as supportive housing chair for St. Joseph's Hospital.

"We're really trying to connect people with services they might be able to use to find housing and financial resources," said Moore of the Cranford-based Monarch Housing Associates, the county's consultant. New Jersey will be the first state to coordinate a statewide Project Homeless Connect and Monarch Housing, along with the New Jersey Alliance for the Homeless, is coordinating the event.

Michelle Borden, associate executive director of NewBridge, said homeless participants will be asked to complete a "simple, one-page survey. It basically asks what services they are receiving."

The survey is designed to answer questions like where they are living (on the street, in a car, etc.), whether they are homeless as individuals or families, and whether they have any income at all, Borden said.

"The purpose is to get a count of how many people are homeless and to make sure they have access to services they might not know about," Moore said.

Since Passaic County has assigned a task force to develop a plan to end homelessness within its borders, Project Homeless Connect day has special importance here. Moore described Project Homeless Connect as a "very, very important part" of the county's plans to end chronic homelessness over 10 years. It will take place in conjunction with the federally mandated Point In Time Count of the homeless and exceeds the requirements for that count.

"It's only mandated every other year but we do it every year," Moore said.

Passaic County's 10-year plan to end chronic homelessness, meanwhile, is moving toward completion. Moore said that the Passaic County Interagency Council on Homelessness could be ready to release a draft of its plan this month or next.

More important than meeting a completion date for the report, however, is making sure it is comprehensive enough to tackle the problem, Moore said. And that's where the Project Homeless Connect day can help.

On Jan. 25, Project Homeless Connect will be held at two county locales: St. Joseph's Hospital's Harbor House, 645 Main Street, Paterson, and Pompton Reformed Church, 59 Hamburg Turnpike, Pompton Lakes. Hours for both are 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

For more information, to volunteer or to make donations, please contact Boxwell at 973-754-4674 or the following email address: boxwellj@sjhmc.org.