Hackensack, NJ Community Message Boards

A phone call to ask about possible apartment openings through the Hackensack Housing Authority on First Street resulted in a disappointing response.   It was merely a rumor that low cost housing became available recently.   The waiting list stands at 4-5 years, and there is no emergency housing.    Even with disabilities, such as the ones some homeless folks I'm working with have - a colostomy, severe asthma, and left-sided paralysis -  there is nothing available.

What is available is for people with big bucks, like those who might be interested in a new condo on State Street, across from Simon Sez.   

Not all the Hackensack shelters are open yet, despite the cold, rain and wind, which would be enough of an emergency for me.

The homeless people I work with say they've accepted their situation.   It's one reason why they no longer fight for themselves - it's always a losing battle.

Over 2000 "views" and not much discussion. 

I was talking to a homeless guy today, one that I see often in Anderson Park.   He's perfectly healthy, sane, but drinks.   He drinks, he said, because he's homeless.   When asked why he's homeless, he said he never could figure out how to do things.   Having been to a social worker\therapist, he was told there was nothing wrong with him.   He seems physically capable of working, but doesn't seem to know how.   Where does he fit in? not eligible for benefits, not lazy, polite, no skills. 

Another guy told me some just don't want to be responsible for anything.

These cases don't make sense.   It's one thing to not want to be responsible, but to be homeless instead?   To get soaked like people did last night rather than have a roof over one's head?

There's got to be something missing in the field of psychology that would explain this disconnection in reasoning.

Do people know that "food stamps", now disbursed via a credit or ATM-like card, can be converted to cash.   All one now needs to do is go to an ATM machine that has the Quest logo on it and take out cash just like you or I can.  I know of several housed homeless who lost or drank the full amount within the first week.   I don't know what can be done, as the complaints in the past that food stamps could not be used for tampons, diapers and toilet paper probably made this system possible.   It's amazing the amount of money that is bouncing around on the streets in the form of SSI, SSD and Families First benefits. 

I finally have a free moment to sit and write something that might make some sense regarding mentoring the homeless.

It's safe to say that the people who end up homeless are from very dysfunctional families, abusive situations, like the orphanage and foster care kids that aged out.   They never had a sense of belonging anywhere and once homeless, they are grouped together with people whose lives are equally or more screwed up than their own.   Except for occasional help from agencies, they're on their own.   

Once homeless, the feeling of not belonging intensifies as no one wants them around - the police pick on them (with good reason most of the time), no one wants shelters or services near residential areas or businesses.   What better way to compound a sense of not belonging than to be a "bum."   I can totally understand the desire to build a shelter in an area removed from the business district, but for the homeless person, this is just another way of saying get lost.   

The other issue with homeless folks is that they have nothing to do once they get sucked into the downward spiral of their living conditions.   They don't think like someone who is not homeless does, even if they had a comfortable existence prior.   For instance, they will panhandle quarters for $1.00 24 oz beers, but wouldn't think to use those quarters to dry their blanket at a laundromat.   Things like this need to be pointed out and reminded over and over again until it becomes part of their mentality.   What we think is simple is not for many of them. 

Mentoring would help pull many folks back into mainstream.   There are so many little things that a mentor could do, such as reminding a person to wash their hands before having a cup of coffee or a meal, remembering birthdays, holidays, talking about the homeless person's life, past, present and future, asking the homeless person their opinions, hopes, etc.   I gave my guy a little research project at the library that gave him something to do.

A mentoring relationship would probably work best if established by word-of-mouth.   The social workers, rightfully so, have rules about confidentiality, ethics, etc., so it would be unlikely that BCCAP would refer a person to a mentor.    Mentoring really means developing a friendship and being a support to another person. 

Though I've given out my phone number to more than 25 homeless folks, not one has ever abused it.   Hospitals have called me as a contact person, I've even worked with the Bergen County Jail physicians because an inmate gave them my number, but I've never received crank calls or calls in the early morning.   However, sharing personal info would be up to the mentor and I would not recommend it until a trusting relationship has been established.   

Finding a homeless person is quite easy in Hackensack (you could email me at holistichell@yahoo.com) just by a walk up Main Street, a stroll through Anderson Park, or a visit to the Hackensack Library.   The library and Anderson Park are better places to meet because unruly or very drunk people are kicked out.   Going to CAP at night or Faith Foundation might be overwhelming.   

There is one thing that became clear to me in my work and that is - there is not enough food to feed the hungry in Hackensack.   The Salvation Army closed and with it went a hot meal.   Kansas St has "brunch" around 11 a.m., so that is the first meal really available on a regular basis and that consists of bologna sandwiches, hot dogs, etc.   Then CAP serves dinner at 4-5 pm.    There are a few weekend breakfasts served at churches.   Homeless people do not qualify for food stamps or only get a few dollars per month, as they have no place to store food.    Center for Food Action distributes to individuals only 6 x per year, and the Salvation Army pantry at 2nd Reformed has been low and\or out of food recently.   Food would definitely provide a vehicle for establishing a relationship.   

If anyone wants further info, please email me at holistichell@yahoo.com.   

211 Passaic Street is the worst, according to those on the street.  It is the cheapest, too.   I don't have street numbers, but there are a few on Union Street and Railroad and in the Railroad Avenue neighborhood.  Better rooms can be found in the Anderson Street area.  Hackensack also has its share of "apartments" ,barely above slum level, that one person rents and other's flop in.   

Knowing most, if not all, the Peter's Place crowd, I can attest to the fact that most are not there because they can't follow rules at the shelters.   

The Compcare clients sitting on Ward and Main must be deterrents to business.   Is this because Compcare has no waiting area inside?  Why is it okay for mental health clients to be sitting on the street if they are waiting for an appointment or their business at the facility is done?

I generally agree with Mr. Martindale's breakdown of homeless types.   What is missing is an in-between, probably even a common thread, and that is arrested development.   This arrested development is probably not found in his first category.

Among Hackensack's "worst" homeless, there are several folks who were abused in orphanages in Paterson.   They could form their own category.   They're all in their 50s, are terrible alcoholics, have no life skills, no sense of self-worth, no interest in life, very low IQ, but they are real survivors.  There are many with the same traits who were just plain neglected, born addicted, fetal alcohol babies, full-blown alcoholics by age 5, and aged-out foster care kids who were abused and released.   They are not mentally ill, they're just kids in adult bodies with adult problems.  Their checks buy alcohol and hotel rooms on Rt 46 when the weather is bad. 

The people in this category come from all over the county, even all over the country.  They don't fit in, they're not mentally ill, not dangerous, just drunk and pretty much unable to find work, anywhere.   I don't know what the solution is for this type of person.   

There are only a handful of people that I know, all of whom are alcoholics, who screw up opportunities to get help.   They don't show up for job interviews, benefit interviews, etc.   They are perfectly capable of working if they are not drunk.   Again, no signs of overt mental illness, but no one drinks to the point of ruining their livelihood, I would think.   

I'm watching to see what happens in Midland Park, where a classmate of mine has been found living behind stores.   Other towns reportedly have dropped off their homeless in Hackensack, in the  middle of the night, near services.   There was lots of alcohol and dysfunction in this man's family but Bergn Regional reallly doesn't do Adult Children of Alcoholics therapy for homeless and poor folks. (Note, Medicaid does not have the therapists we nonhomeless folks have.   Homeless can't get grief therapists or even go to support groups). 

All these factors which lead to homelessness become compounded when the effects of alcohol start to affect the brain.   Each individual has profound problems.

Some churches have taken their own problem children under their wings, but often there are disastrous results.  At the local level, perhaps the Board of Health needs to be expanded to include mental health services.  Laws that forbid committment really  need to be softened.   Problem is, at least for schizophrenics, when they're stabilized, they don't need to institutionalized.   It's almost impossible to address the unique needs of homeless folks.   

Thanks.   Faith Foundation is in the block slated for the condo.   Is there any talk of the city blocking any move to another location?

"The Peter’s Place people want the Social Security Building for one dollar ($), pursuant to a federal edict that gives homeless services first choice for any federal facility to be abandoned. (I can’t imagine why they feel they no longer need a Social Security office to serve New Jersey’s largest county). Peter’s Place is the worst of all the shelters, since it caters specifically to the homeless that are so unruly, obnoxious, disgusting, and uncivilized that they are kicked out of the County-run shelter. "

I would beg to differ with the opinion above.    I am working one-on-one with the homeless in Hackensack and have reunited a Peter's Place client with his family, paid for his ticket and sent him home to Virginia.   He had been homeless for 6 years.   No one bothered to ask where this sweet 36-year-old man was from and how did he get here.   Due to his developmental disabilities, he did not know.   

Another one - a terrible alcoholic who ended up hospitalized, and who was voted on the street to be the next likely to die of his substance abuse, has been rehabilitated and is in structured housing and doing well.   The neglect at all stages of his childhood, including being given alcohol by his parents as a prepubescent boy, all contributed to his current situation.   His counselling at one shelter amounted to three 15-minute sessions with three different counselors.   He was told there was nothing wrong with him.   He was banned from other shelters because of a gait imbalance due to a trauma which makes him look drunk when he's not.   He's doing fine.   He needed some personal attention.

One doesn't need to be unruly, obnoxious or disgusting to be kicked out of the private nonprofit shelters known as Bergen County CAP.   

People should also be asking just how many more people are going to be served by this new shelter.   There are currently 38 beds.   Will Orchard Street close, as rumor has it?   There were no beds there, but chairs to sleep in, at tables, perhaps 65 in all.   The original plans for the new shelter said of the 100 beds, 25 emergency beds will be kept available, so really 75 ongoing beds will be available.    Is it worth the money being spent to gain only about 37 beds?

Will there be more showers available?  CAP has a couple and they are not available all day long.   

The family shelter is not going to be reopened at 40 Passaic.   Those families have struggled to find placement elsewhere.   What about new poor families? 

What needs to be addressed are root causes of homelessness - the new kids coming out of good homes with no life skills at all, emotionally arrested at young ages, the abused foster kids, the adults turned onto chemical substances at early ages.   All of the people I have worked with, on the surface, look obnoxius and dangerous, but really are just neglected kids underneath.   Perhaps a homeless mentoring program is an idea.