We must combat the myth of declining homelessness — in New Jersey and beyond | Opinion

Last fall, U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Marcia Fudge announced the “House America” program to fund the rehousing of 100,000 families and the building of 20,000 affordable housing units. The goal is admirable but the reality here in Bergen County is that affordable rentals are a myth. The opportunity for local working families to find housing they can afford is even more elusive today than it was just six months ago. The cost of housing in the U.S. increased nearly 19% in 2021 over the prior year, sending the cost of rentals even higher.

Another myth is that homelessness is declining.

According to experts in this area, the number of families who are housing insecure is definitely not going down. But you need to listen to the right people. What gets confusing is that two federal agencies define “homelessness” very differently, leading to vastly different conclusions.

The federal Housing and Urban Development labels someone to be homeless if they are literally staying in a shelter, living in their car or in other places considered unfit for living — living in a park or under a bridge, for example. Sounds reasonable? I think we can all agree that people in those situations should be considered homeless.

However, there are other living situations in which families should also be considered homeless. And the federal Department of Educationagrees. This federal agency considers individuals and families who live “doubled up” with another family to also be homeless.

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Why?

Because studies have found that children under the age of 18 who live in such situations suffer from exposure to drug and sexual abuse, lower levels of education, poorer levels of health, and lower success in education at rates that are the same as for children literally living in shelters.

You could say, “Well, at least they have shelter,” and you would be right. Shelter comes first. But just imagine if you and your three children were forced to live with another family of four or five people in an apartment designed for that one family. You would no longer have the ability to control the environment where you’re raising your family. our children could be sleeping on a couch, with the TV on, deprived of quiet time to study or sleep. Remember, that apartment was big enough for one family, not two, and there is no place to go for quiet.

So, the DOE quite correctly also counts as homeless individuals and families living in doubled-up situations, as well as those living in cars or shelters. What do you think?

In a recent 10-year study, HUD claims that homelessness in the U.S. has declined 20%. Yet, the DOE claims that homelessness has increased over 90% over the same period.

Family Promise of Bergen County estimates that there are more than 1,500 children in our county who are living in shelters, cars or doubled up in crowded, unstable living conditions. Shockingly, 40% of them are under six years old. And sadly, those numbers represent 600 families.

HUD, which controls most of the funding for addressing homelessness, has the loudest megaphone, and that is the voice we all hear in newspapers and on TV. It is time to use real definitions, to use the DOE’s real numbers if we are ever going to address the issue of homelessness here.

One more confusing issue these past two years has been the impact of the pandemic life on those who might otherwise be homeless. The government has invested a lot of money to prevent evictions. Those funds will go away, however, and what is going to happen? Hard-working but underpaid people will be unable to pay their rents and will be at serious risk of eviction. So, we should be prepared to see those numbers that are now artificially lower, increase again.

Homelessness is complex. Accepting the myth that it is decreasing doesn’t fix the issue. It simply masks it.

Paul R. Shackford is president of the board of trustees of Family Promise of Bergen County.

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: NJ homelessness is far from on the decline