Paterson is among the many cities where outreach teams go to get the state’s annual homeless count, which increased by 9% last year. The count took place in late January just before the pandemic hit.
It found that 9,600 people were without a permanent home, up from just over 8,800 in 2019. That is a bigger increase than experienced by 42 other states, according to a study from the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development.
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