Every year, the state conducts a point-in-time count — essentially a one-day snapshot — of the number of homeless people in New Jersey. The numbers help lawmakers and housing support organizations better understand just how vast the problem actually is. And, it is vast, as the latest count saw an 8% increase in the number of homeless people in the state compared to 2024.
NJ Spotlight News spoke with Richard Uniacke, president of Bridges Outreach, an advocacy group, about the latest count and what it means — and doesn’t mean.
“Our team does street outreach in Newark 24/7 365, … so we’re documenting every encounter,” he said. “The point-in-time count showed 107 unsheltered people in Newark. Through the first six months of the year we’ve encountered more than 1,800, 17 times that number.”
Uniacke said he was especially troubled by President Trump’s recent executive order that law enforcement is to arrest or institutionalize homeless people dealing with substance use or mental health disorders. He also called for the end of so-called “housing first” programs, calling them a failure.
Uniacke said the order moves in the wrong direction and will hurt those who are already struggling.
“It’s criminalization, it’s dehumanization, it’s painting everyone with a broad brush as though it’s all mental illness or substance use disorder,” said Uniacke. “The top causes [of homelessness] are still in New Jersey and across the country eviction and being asked to leave a shared residence, break up of a household. So when you force people into institutional settings, when you basically criminalize anyone for the experience of homelessness and the biological imperative to sleep, you’re really doing everybody a disservice. Regardless of whether you think that it’s inhumane, it’s not the right thing to do.”
