Author Topic: 211 Passaic Street DESTROYED  (Read 15707 times)

Offline Hope Donnelly

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Re: 211 Passaic Street DESTROYED
« Reply #15 on: May 23, 2006, 05:57:16 PM »
Still not getting the point, Eric.   

I think the county should investigate what a group like Common Ground in NYC is doing with former "flop houses".

Offline Editor

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Eric Martindale

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Re: 211 Passaic Street DESTROYED
« Reply #17 on: May 23, 2006, 09:38:11 PM »
“Common Ground” sounds like a great program.  HOWEVER, if they expanded to Hackensack, there’s still the same “Field of Dreams syndrome”.   As they said in Field of Dreams, “build it and they will come”. No matter how much is built in Hackensack to serve the homeless, it will always be running at over 100% capacity.  One has to look beyond Hackensack to understand why.

State and national level homeless advocates look at Bergen County, with 900,000 people, as doing very little compared to other counties in New Jersey with smaller populations (actually Bergen has the most population). They consider it a great injustice that such a wealthy county does less for the homeless than smaller and poorer counties such as Essex, Union, Passaic, or Hudson.

Let’s look at the regional problem of homeless. Newark has over 15,000 homeless people. There’s over 300 places for homeless in Newark to get a free meal. But Newark doesn’t have anywhere near enough facilities to take care of all the homeless there.  And that’s just one city. There’s five others in our region: Paterson, Passaic, Jersey City, Elizabeth, and New York City.

From a regional perspective, homeless advocates look at Bergen County as an “overflow” location to help solve the regional situation. County officials, of course, then target Hackensack, since they don’t want it in their small towns. The more that is built in Hackensack to serve the homeless, that helps to slightly reduce the level of crisis in the other six cities.

IF FACILITIES WERE BUILT IN HACKENSACK TO ALLOW NIGHTLY BEDS AND DAILY MEALS FOR 1000 PEOPLE, IT WOULD SOON FILL UP DUE TO OVERFLOW COMING FROM THE OTHER SIX CITIES, ESPECIALLY NEWARK. And it would hardly make a dent to reducing the homeless crisis in those cities.

That’s the big picture, folks. 

 "Hope" has everyone pigeon-holed into two categories, those who are symphathetic to the homeless support their programs, and those who are ignorant or evil don't support homeless programs.  Maybe there's a third category: Those who are sympathetic to their needs, but also understand that the influx into Hackensack of homeless is essentially ENDLESS, and that no matter how much is done here, it will always draw more homeless into the city.

Hey, maybe it's time to go into the cities that are actually SOURCING the homeless, and solving it there.  There's no way that Hackensack SOURCES more than the programs here.

Tom

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Re: 211 Passaic Street DESTROYED
« Reply #18 on: May 24, 2006, 01:53:06 PM »
Eric- You are exhausting...

Offline Hope Donnelly

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Re: 211 Passaic Street DESTROYED
« Reply #19 on: May 24, 2006, 04:21:42 PM »
Tom,

You are right!

I'm not pigeon-holing anyone.  Common Ground's ideas would work in OTHER towns as well as in Hackensack.   Monitored housing several notches in quality above 211 Passaic St, where residents would use their monthly checks to pay their rent  (as opposed to having several hundred dollars in their pockets while staying in shelters) would work.

I've hooked up with a housing advocate (for the middle class) in Asbury Park, where new condos starting at $1.2 million are going up among the slums.   Pretty soon we'll need shelters for people making $50K :o

Thanks, Editor, for posting the  link to Common Ground.   The NY Times article, "Making a Flophouse a Home, and a Decent One at That" is available free if you register.   The article ran on 4/30/06.
« Last Edit: May 24, 2006, 04:40:28 PM by Hope Donnelly »

Offline Editor

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Re: 211 Passaic Street DESTROYED
« Reply #20 on: May 24, 2006, 04:53:05 PM »
I was able to open "Making a Flophouse a Home" here without registering.

If that doesn't work, try here. (no photos)

Any reply to Eric's argument that more accomodation for "those in need" means we attract more of "those in need"? Is there a cycle here? 

Common Ground's approach is innovative and should be explored. 
« Last Edit: May 24, 2006, 05:06:25 PM by Editor »

Offline Editor

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Re: 211 Passaic Street DESTROYED
« Reply #21 on: May 30, 2006, 04:18:12 PM »
A regular visitor recently replied to this thread but now the post is gone.  I assume it was deleted by the post's author.  I didn't delete it.  It was insightful and I hope it reappears.

Update: The post now appears immediately below.
« Last Edit: June 01, 2006, 12:14:03 PM by Editor »

Offline Hope Donnelly

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Re: 211 Passaic Street DESTROYED
« Reply #22 on: May 31, 2006, 07:39:51 AM »
I'm making it shorter  :) (but it isn't  ::) )

It will be interesting to see what the numbers were from the recent homeless count.   The family shelter closed last year and didn't reopen, and at the time of the count, Peter's Place and Orchard St. overnight were closed.   Does anyone know if the numbers dropped?  I know there were several deaths over the last year, as well.

Letters to county officials, CAP and Hackensack looking for more information on what exactly is going to be offered have gone unanswered, except for a form letter from the freeholders' office.   This shelter might not be an expansion but a reduction of beds and services but the PR make it look like it will take care of a host of problems.  If it is run the same way as the others, it will not, and Hackensack might see more homeless because it looks attractive.

Would expanding services increase the number of homeless?  Probably, if the county keeps doing business as usual.  One has to think about quality of services vs quantity.   Peter's Place has expanded its intern program, which is essential for training effective social workers.    Many of the social workers I've met had no experience with homeless people and were afraid of them.   This fear lets people fall through the cracks like the two guys I located family for and sent home.   Both were utilizing county facilities for years and somehow no one had bothered to question them about where they came from because they can't or won't spend enough time getting to know their clients.  They were both quiet, nice men, developmentally disabled and also very afraid.  The two no-questions-asked nonprofits, FAITH and Peter's (one more than the other), need to be here in order to pick up where CAP's abilities end.

Existing services need to clean up their acts.   CompCare (or is it CarePlus?) on the corner of Ward and Main, transports residents of group homes from other towns and dumps them off in Hackensack.  A formerly homeless woman who is now in a group home in Emerson, spends her day with the homeless from about 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.   That is her day program and that of a van load of other women.  WTF?

I was happy that Lawrence Aaron commented on police from other towns dropping off their homeless in the middle of the night.   As always, it is the centuries-old stigma of being poor or mentally ill which is really the issue.   Housing such as Common Ground's is a cost-effective idea.   It is not an expansion of homeless services, but housing that can work anywhere and prevent homelessness.   Instead of spending gazillions on architectural plans for shelters, why not buy up some houses for 3-4 people in towns that are bringing Hackensack their homeless.    Either have the county own them or hold private owners very responsible, like the Hackensack detective who owns a boarding house is.  Offering housing for the lowest of incomes AND something for them to do, whether paid or volunteer, which is always left out of the picture, would reduce the street loitering which is often mistaken as homeless behavior.   Replacing low income neighborhoods with luxury housing is going to increase the homeless problem.   

Again, another expansion would be housing and care for the worst of the mentally ill that don't belong on the streets of any town.   Bergen Regional has the room, which could be used for supervised housing, not hospitalization, as it is against the law to commit mentally ill people.   There are so many other ways of dealing with the homeless problem besides building bigger shelters.   
« Last Edit: May 31, 2006, 07:54:49 AM by Hope Donnelly »

Eric Martindale

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Re: 211 Passaic Street DESTROYED
« Reply #23 on: May 31, 2006, 08:03:54 AM »
Two questions.  (1) You say the family shelter is not reopening.  Are you referring to the County's facility at 40 Passaic Street, one of the freeholders told me that was in limbo.  Tell us more. What is the County's plans for that building.  Is it vacant now?

(2) Which Hackensack detective owns a boarding house, and what is the address of that boarding house.  I'm curious, since I know all the boarding houses in the city, and I know which are well-run (the one of Anderson 1/2 block west of Vanderbeck, and the two on Euclid at the corner of Linden), and I know which are trouble. I'm curious if a member of the HPD is running a "good" boarding house or not.

debkl

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Re: 211 Passaic Street DESTROYED
« Reply #24 on: June 01, 2006, 11:25:52 AM »
A representative from Bergen County Community Action Partnership did state at a meeting in January 06 that Head Start would be using the rooms (and they are), and it might be sold for private housing.  There were no plans to reopen the shelter.

 

anything