Nearly a year after Ocean County established a Homelessness Trust Fund, the county’s Homelessness Trust Fund Task Force has yet to formulate its bylaws and decide how to spend the fund. After instituting a $5 charge on most documents processed by the county clerk’s office, the Board of Commissioners says that more than $107,000 has been raised since September.
As a condition for creating the Homelessness Trust Fund, the money may be used for services to help those experiencing homelessness, but it may not be used toward creation of a full-time shelter, something Ocean County does not have outside of its Code Blue shelter.
People in Ocean County who are homeless have had to improvise, with some living in encampments in the woods.
Melissa McLean lives in an encampment at the rear of Winding River Park in Toms River. “There are a few things from civilization, if you will, that we miss, like running water,” she said. “But we have a ten-men tent, so there’s plenty of room to spread out and we all decorate our beds. I have pictures of my grandkids.”
Finding affordable housing has been extremely difficult, McLean said, so she has lived outdoors for the past few years.
“I’m talking about seven-year waiting lists [for affordable housing]. There are just very few options out there,” she said. “Even if you find a place, you have to come up with a security deposit. Most of us don’t have that kind of [money]. Well, if we had that kind of money, we wouldn’t be out here.”
