A County Homeless Trust
Fund
By Albert B. Kelly
Over the months, I have
been working with a number of community volunteers, faith-based organizations,
and churches to find solutions to the homeless problem here in Bridgeton and on
the western side of the County. While the problem is complex and the challenges
many, I’ve been encouraged throughout because the people involved seem
committed to finding creative ways to solve the problems.
That’s good, because we need
as many tools in the tool box as we can get. In the last few days, I became
aware of a county-based program in New Jersey that could provide a significant
tool to tackle the homeless problem; namely the county-based Homeless Trust
Fund.
If you are not aware the
program, it was signed into law in September 2009 and it provides funding for
implementing local plans to deal with homelessness. It is active in 8 counties
and in recent days, Atlantic County is considering signing on possibly making 9
counties throughout the state that participate in the program.
Of the 8 counties that
have established funds (Bergen, Camden, Mercer, Hudson, Middlesex, Union
Passaic, and Somerset) they have amassed over $1 million in funds with
individual trust funds ranging from a low of $57k (Mercer) to as high as $287k
(Bergen).
The way the program works
according to Public Law 2009 Chapter 123; participating counties would impose a
surcharge of $3 on documents recorded with the county and this $3 surcharge
would then be deposited into a county homeless trust fund. The bulk of the
funds would then be used for homeless housing grants. While the law allows five
percent of what is collected to be used for administrative costs, many of the
counties have volunteers doing the work so that all of the funds can go to
programmatic costs.
Eligible costs include
acquisition, construction or rehabilitation of housing projects or units that
provide affordable housing for the homeless or those at risk, rental assistance
(tenant and project based subsidies), a host of support services needed by the
homeless or at risk families, and homeless prevention services leading toward
permanent housing.
It is a broad framework,
but given the scope of the homeless problem, it helps to have the ability to
generate resources specifically to tackle the problem.
Perhaps the time is right
for communities in Cumberland County to come together and consider doing what
we can to implement a Cumberland County Homeless Trust Fund. To qualify, it
requires our county to have or be actively developing a ten-year plan to deal
with the issue of homelessness and appropriate legislation.
Beyond that, Cumberland
County must create a County Homelessness Trust Fund Task Force to assist local
government units on housing plans, program and project assessment, review of
applications, and monitoring on measurable outcomes.
At present, we have the
Comprehensive Emergency Assistance System Committee (CEAS) that handles certain
planning and monitoring functions related to homeless and at-risk services and
considering the solid work that they do, that would be a good starting to place
to consider this possibility.
I am confident that
county-wide, we have the ability to work collectively; as I’ve seen those
efforts succeed with open space, green space, and similar initiatives that
require this type of collaboration. Added to this, our freeholders are a
forward-looking progressive board looking to solve our community problems and
they are investigating the viability of this tool for the County.
While the issue is not a
pleasant one nor is it easy, it is real and it does have a profound impact; not
only on the homeless individuals themselves, but on the communities they try to
survive in. As a county, Cumberland ranks poorly in too many of the wrong
indices. But with the right toolkit, homelessness does not have to be one of
them.
With that in mind, I
wonder what we can accomplish with a tool such as this. Working with
non-profits, the faith-based community and others in Bridgeton on various
strategies to combat homelessness, this tool might be part of assembling a more
comprehensive package on the local level to make a longer-term difference in
the lives of our most vulnerable residents.