There are creative approaches to house the homeless. One has just begun in Newark. | Opinion – NJ.com

By Ande Richards

Thank goodness the city and its partners moved swiftly to get Miller Street Pathways to Housing Center up and running because it’s critical to the Essex County community as the last survey showed there were 1,500 people in the county without homes.

Newark’s houseless community is in dire need of services and Miller Street Pathways to Housing Center will serve as a respite for the unhoused in Newark.

People have already been checking in at Miller Street to see when services will begin. One man, who wished not to be identified, said he works for the railroad and likes to have information available for folk he sees on the streets. This is just one example of how much the community needs a facility like this.

The 24,000 square-foot facility provides 24/7, 365 days a year emergency shelter and supportive services to transition homeless Newark residents into housing. It has the capacity to shelter 166 people including men, women and families with 21 spots for code blue nights.

There is no timetable for how long clients can stay. The goal is to make sure people are provided adequate time to transition to permanent housing.

Mayor Ras Baraka announced the development of the Miller Street Pathways to Housing Center on Feb. 25, 2021, and today, just shy of a year, marks its grand opening.

“The opening of this center is yet another positive step forward and a major milestone in our community-wide efforts to address and eradicate homelessness. Every resident without an address deserves a pathway to permanent housing and my administration will continually strive to shelter and protect the most vulnerable in our community,” said Mayor Baraka.

According to the Point-in-Time Count of the Homeless conducted in January 2021, 1,483 individuals were identified as homeless in Essex County. Of the 1,483, 1,274 were identified in Newark that’s 85.9% of Essex County’s homeless population residing in Newark. 1,211 were sheltered and 63 were identified as living outdoors.

Sakinah Hoyte, Newark’s housing czar says those numbers have increased during the drawn-out COVID pandemic and natural disasters like Hurricane Ida.

Hoyte says they worried about their most vulnerable homeless, and the folks that are unwilling to come into the shelter. Because of their past experiences, they conducted a survey with individuals in the Penn Station corridor and asked the reasoning behind not wanting to come into the shelter. The majority said the way they were treated, and the upkeep of the shelter are the reasons why they don’t come in.

“So, this is why we were so particular in designing this and very, very particular about who we chose to be the operator,” Hoyte said. “The Office of Homeless Services will be working closely with Catholic Charities to transition folks into the shelter to work with them on the continuum because we want them to feel welcomed and want them to stay until they are willing to go on to permanent housing.”

Miller Street is unique in its approach to assisting those who require a temporary place to live.

First, they created relationships with the chronically unhoused by visiting people in the street and establishing respectful rapport with them before introducing the idea of moving into a shelter. Hoyte says that outreach is a long game. It takes time, it takes patience, it takes building relationships.

Identification is not a requirement for entry. Anyone who needs a place to stay may enter the facility and this includes people with physical disabilities. The facility is ADA compliant.

Miller Street has two entrances, one for men and one for women, both with security scanner systems to check for weapons and security guards. This is to safeguard people who also deal with domestic abuse from their partners who may also be houseless. Additionally, there is a nursing station near the entrance where temperatures are taken. People who present with COVID will be housed in their isolation wing.

Two large TV screens are on opposite walls of the drop-in center where Incoming residents are screened by case managers and asked questions about their mental health, possible substance use, and health concerns. They’ve partnered with Rutgers behavioral health and with the Mental Health Association of Essex and Morris counties. They will be providing support services to the clients.

Seven rooms are dedicated for families which include a bathroom and several beds. Hoyte says they receive calls in the middle of the night to try to identify a family shelter. When they designed this shelter, they wanted to make sure that they had emergency accommodation. She says it is not what they call a generally functioning family shelter, but they do have emergency family rooms in the case they get families that are homeless in the middle of the night.

Three meals are served daily. Families dine together but men and women are separated. Laundry rooms are also available for residents.

Hoyte says that individuals doing outreach said some people were not willing to come into a shelter because they were not pleased with the way the restrooms worked. So, they were intentional about the design of the restrooms which are spacious and can accommodate people with disabilities.

Aside from a bulletin board featuring flyers that highlight various services near the drop-in room, the walls are bare. Hoyte says they will partner with local artists to put artwork on the walls, and they hope to find talented artists within the community they serve.

They have partnered with social services and the housing authority to help the transition individuals that will come to stay there into permanent housing. This alliance is another example of their collaborative network of partners.

“Catholic Charities is very excited to partner in this initiative. The Miller Street Pathways to Housing Center not only will have an impact meeting the immediate needs of the homeless today, but will also impact their tomorrows as the Center’s services build stability in the lives of men, women, and children in need,” said John Westervelt, Chief Executive Officer of Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Newark.

Miller Street plans to market its facility via other organizations. The Office of Homeless Services (OHS), which was established by Baraka saw over 2000 individuals last year according to Hoyte. OHS is one of the referral agencies to the shelter along with Catholic Charities Newark and a plethora of different programs throughout the city.

They also have an outreach agency that is contracted with the city. They go out to the streets from 3 p.m. to 11 p.m. to identify outdoor homeless individuals. They also act as a referring agency.

Funding for Miller Street Pathways to Housing Center employed an innovative partnership with a private company that is developing the Mulberry Commons Pedestrian Bridge Project that connects Newark Penn Station to the Ironbound section of the city.

As the numbers of housing insecure people grow in Essex County, the mayor and affiliated agencies must continue to push for creative and expedient solutions for people displaced by the pandemic, natural disasters, substance abuse, and low incomes that don’t match market-rate apartments.

Miller Street Pathways to Housing Center will be a beacon for many and hopefully, it will be a template for future facilities that can help to heal and house those in need.

Ande Richards is new to New Jersey. She wants to hear from New Jersey’s communities of color, people with disabilities, the LGBTQ+ communities, and those who feel underserved by traditional media. She may be reached at arichards@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Instagram @angelcitygirl or Twitter @anderichards.

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