Hackensack, NJ Community Message Boards

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.   

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".

Anyone who takes the time to research all perspectives on addiction knows it is not as simple as extreme selfishness.

All-knowing Eric Martindale, I'm glad to see that you know the hearts and minds of  all those who lived at 211 Passaic Street.   It is because of thinking like yours that nothing will ever change.

Do the planners really think this location will make that much of a difference?  The homeless people who are alcohol-dependent, walk each Sunday morning to Little Ferry, where the liquor stores open early.   As long as there is low cost beer and vodka available at the stores on Main, Hudson and South State Streets., homeless people and those who people believe are homeless will be panhandling and buying in Hackensack.  Not all who panhandle and loiter are homeless, either.

Okay - this is weird.   I was in Maywood at a friend's house,  nearly a straight run up from Euclid, a few blocks south of Bergen Mall.   The Christmas tree lights seemed brighter on and off, as did the dining room light.   They did not go off completely.  I thought it was my eyes but Hubby noted it also.  I don't recall the time, but it was Tuesday evening as we had already eaten dinner. 

I'm saddened to read the news about James Williams, and my heart goes out to the two drivers who hit him.  James Williams was a very nice person under his frightening appearance.  I spoke with him on many occasions on the street, saw him in the ER, where he spent many a day and night.   When I saw him walking in traffic just two days before he died, I wondered if it was a miracle that had kept him from being hit by a car sooner.   He and I, a social worker in the ER, and even the security guard, talked about him getting rehab, planning a life after rehab, and getting back on his feet.   Although he thought it all sounded good, he never sounded like he believed it was possible.   If it doesn't come from within, how does rehab happen?  This is the problem for those who never got on their feet to begin with, who never had any hope.