Panel Advocates Different Approach to Homelessness

A panel of experts gave a status report on efforts to reduce homelessness in Bergen County on Tuesday at .

Julia Orlando, director of the county Housing, Health and Human Services Center in Hackensack, said the center has helped hundreds of people since it opened in late 2009.

Since then, the center has found permanent homes for 158 people and provided temporary shelter for 510 others. The center employs a "Housing First" model to give the homeless access to permanent housing immediately, rather than asking them to work their way toward independent housing.

The model was pioneered in the 1990s by Sam Tsemberis, founder of Pathways to Housing, a nonprofit dedicated to ending homelessness. Tsemberis was on hand as a panelist, and explained that the model arose more out of necessity than ingenuity.

"We were just desperate to try something new," Tsemberis said.

The Hackensack center follows the model of providing immediate housing for the homeless, regardless of their extenuating circumstances, and then providing support services to ensure they can keep their new homes.

"We don't ask them to be in treatment, we don't ask them to take medication, we don't require anything for someone to meet with the housing specialist to look at their eligibility," Orlando said.

Even in Bergen County, with the 16th-highest per capita income in the country, there are hundreds of homeless, moderator Clark LaMendola said. LaMendola cited last year's Point in Time Survey, which counts homeless in communities on a given day, and found more than 500 homeless people in Bergen County.

More than 100 of them were children, and 10% were veterans. What's more, LaMendola said, those figures are likely understated, and are increasing in suburban areas.

Tom Toronto, who was the chairman of the county 10-year plan to end homelessness, said communities needed to embrace affordable housing projects like Orchard Commons in Allendale. Seven of the 10 tenants at the commons are working, and Allendale Mayor Vince Barra said it was his proudest accomplishment.

Toronto said the Allendale community had warmed to its new residents, and vice versa.

"The difference that stable, secure housing has on the lives of people at every point is just extraordinary," he said.