SOUTH JERSEY (KYW Newsradio) — As home prices shot up in recent years, so has the rate of homelessness in some New Jersey counties. This issue has hit the Black community especially hard.
“People who are Black make up around 12% of the state’s population, but they make up 50% of the population that’s experiencing homelessness in New Jersey,” Monarch Housing and NJ Counts data analyst Nadine Azari said.
NJ Counts says a point-in-time survey conducted in January showed nearly 9,000 residents were without permanent housing.
Azari says real estate prices are a real problem.
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“There’s just a lack of affordable housing,” she said. “The prices are just going through the roof.”
She says many people living on the brink of homelessness work minimum wage jobs, some suffer from addiction and mental health issues, and more outreach and support are needed.
“It could really happen to anyone. There’s so many circumstances that could lead to someone being unhoused,” said Azari.
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Affordability is a challenge for many in the state with America’s highest property taxes. But Azari said it goes beyond just dollars and cents.
“A lot of the issues are structural,” she said. “Who makes up the criminal justice system the most? Who is in the foster care system the most? Those things obviously flow into the homelessness system.”
While many parts of the state have seen increases in homelessness year over year, the numbers have gone down some in Burlington and Camden Counties.