Converted shipping containers to house homeless who frequent Newark Penn Station – NJ.com

Converted shipping containers will soon house people who are homeless and living in the Newark Penn Station area through the winter months, said Newark Homelessness Czar Sakinah Hoyte.

“You have to be creative,” said Hoyte during a Zoom conference on Wednesday organized by the city that addressed homelessness. “You have to meet people where they are. Our ultimate goal is to get them off the street by any means necessary. But it has to be something that’s dignified.”

There were 1,859 homeless people in Newark during one night in January last year Monarch Housing’s annual point-in-time count, which accounted for 86% of Essex County’s residents without addresses. About 350 of those were not in a shelter, the study said.

The shipping container site is slated to open in early February and will include three single bathrooms and shower units. Meals, transportation, mental and substance abuse services will be provided, Hoyte said.

A Newark spokesman said California-based company Homes 4 the Homeless was partnering with the city for the project, but the city did not have information about how many units would be available, the project’s cost, or whether the location would be temporary. A city spokeswoman told NJ Advance Media more information would be made available at an unspecified date and the company referred questions to the city.

Shipping containers have been used in cities like Los Angeles, but some critics say they only provide low-quality, temporary housing. The shipping containers in Newark, however, are just one approach to tackling homelessness in the state’s largest city.

The city additionally plans to run its own shelter that will house 166 men and women and provide meals, transportation and connect people with medical and supportive services. The shelter will not require ID to stay, said Hoyte, a common obstacle for people who are homeless.

The city wants to build 100 units of permanent, supportive housing for residents with $2 million and works with non-profits to find those in need.

Housing was a concern at the start of the pandemic for groups that routinely work with the homeless in Newark.

But the city contracted with Holiday Inn near the Newark airport for at least $5.1 million to lodge people who are homeless between June last year and September 2021, according to an ordinance obtained by NJ Advance Media. The hotels were paid for using grants from the federal CARES Act.

Bridges Outreach Inc. also works with the city to find people on the streets and connect them with services. The organization visits hotspots where people without addresses usually gather — Penn Station, parks, around McCarter Highway or under bridges — but it’s not always easy to convince someone to accept help, organizers say.

“It takes about a hundred or more engagements to make a successful encounter for someone to come — to trust us,” said Bridges Outreach Project Connect Director Shahilda Boynes. “So we have to build that trust. Day in and day out, we’re out there.”

Each person who is homeless has a unique experience: some may be couch surfing and have lost their birth certificate, social security card or government-issued ID; others may be escaping domestic violence and have children; and some need mental health or substance services.

Newark’s family shelter program monitor, Audrey Sykes, has experienced homelessness and is able to have tough conversations with some clients about teaching them money management or how to hold a job.

“It’s personal because I know what it feels like to have your sense of stability threatened,” Sykes said. “I know what it feels like to have that ripped from under you. Because I’ve been there before. In 2011, I was homeless with my daughter who was 7 months at the time.”

Officials on the Zoom conference said those without addresses might come to Newark because the resources the city offers may be well-known. The city, however, is trying to collect data that shows where people who are homeless are coming from.

The city, meanwhile, is also preparing for the eviction moratorium in the Garden State to end. The city partnered with Integrity House, the Salvation Army, Catholic Charities, St. James Social Service Corporation and Newark Emergency Services for Families to begin waitlisting residents who will likely be in need of help, said Newark Director of Social Services Saffiyah Holiday.

Gov. Phil Murphy’s eviction moratorium, which bans landlords from kicking out tenants for rent nonpayment, ends 60 days after the state of emergency expires. Unless the state of emergency is continued, the moratorium would end in March.

“We’re waitlisting people right now so that there’s not a massive bottleneck once the eviction moratorium is lifted,” Hoyte said.

Those interested in volunteering to conduct the annual point-in-time count, which will take place over two weeks this year, should contact the Newark Office of Homeless Services at 973-877-9481. Below is a list of homeless shelters the city has partnered with to provide emergency sheltering:

1. Apostle House at 513-515 Avon Ave. in Newark may be reached (973) 482-0625 and services women and children only.

2. Isaiah House at 238 North Munn Ave. in East Orange may be reached at (973) 678 – 5882 and services single mothers and families with children.

3. Catholic Charities – St. Rocco’s at 368 South 7th St. in Newark may be reached at (973) 286-4175 and services families with children.

4. Circle of Life at 55 Tillinghast St. in Newark may be reached at (862) 763 – 4859 and services adults only. It is LGBTQ friendly.

5. Fairmont Health at 202 Fairmont Ave. in Newark may be reached at (973) 643 – 7705 and services adults only.

6. H.E.L.P. Center at 224 Sussex Ave. in Newark may be reached at(973) 705-7200 and services adults only.

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Rebecca Panico may be reached at rpanico@njadvancemedia.com.t