TOMS RIVER – It was expected to be 17 degrees that night, with a wind chill bringing it down to 2 degrees.
That’s fatal temperatures for people who don’t have a roof over their head. To bring attention to that fact, Councilman Terrance Turnbach slept in a tent that night. He had a makeshift camp on the lawn between the Toms River Town Hall, library, historic Bishop building, and the huge evergreen that the town decorates for the holidays.
Turnbach had been advocating for the homeless for years. With his help, the township opened up Riverwood Park Recreation Center off Whitesville Road as an overnight warming shelter in the winter. This shelter is overseen by Just Believe, a non-profit network of volunteers.
This location falls under the Code Blue law in New Jersey, so it only opens when the temperatures approach freezing. It also means that the volunteers have to find the homeless, drive them to the shelter at night, and then bring them back to the woods in the morning. For a long time, advocates have been pushing for something more year-round. Ocean County is the only county in the state without a homeless shelter.
Turnbach has been urging decision makers on the county level to build a homeless shelter.
“The silence from the Freeholders is deafening,” he said at a recent Township Council meeting. “Freeholder” is the term that used to describe the five elected officials who oversee the county. In 2021, this title got renamed “Commissioner.”
He told the story of two homeless men he’s been trying to help. One is 70 living under a tarp in the woods. Another is a 75-year-old veteran.
Politicians around here always talk about how they support the veterans and the seniors, but there are seniors and veterans who are homeless, he said.
He gave the Commissioners a date and time to meet him outside, by the tents, and to meet some of the homeless. A few dozen people had assembled outside the Town Hall. The PAL had meals set up for homeless. Many volunteers were there. He said that Commissioner Director Gary Quinn set up a meeting with him. Councilmen Kevin Geoghegan and Matthew Lotano, as well as Commissioner Virginia Haines came out to show bipartisan support.
“Will the county build a facility itself? No. We don’t want to run and build a facility,” she said. However, they could financially help one if a nonprofit were to take the lead.
The county does rent hotel stays for homeless, amounting to hundreds of stays a year.
One challenge is that there are not a lot of buildings that are equipped to serve as a transitional center, she said. They are even having trouble finding a Code Blue building in the southern portion of the county. People have to be transported from Little Egg Harbor or Long Beach Island to the one in Toms River.
What’s the difference between a “shelter” and a “transitional center?” A shelter suggests a permanent home. A transitional center is more the goal.
Paul Hulse, CEO of Just Believe, listed statistics of people they have helped this winter alone. They got 11 people into permanent housing. Two were relocated to family. Eight went to silver lining, a housing center for seniors. Twenty-five entered rehab or detox.
“That’s the beauty of what we do,” he said, recounting the joy of watching a formerly homeless person turn a key in their new home for the first time.
But helping people in this situation isn’t easy. The residents might have emotional or psychological issues they need to work through. There’s often medical issues. There’s no one-size-fits-all treatment plan. Every person takes time, and it takes caring helpers to find out what they need and to bring them to the resources that can help.
Turnbach had said, in reference to the two older homeless men he was trying to help, that it took several visits to earn their trust. This underscores the need for a building dedicated to this. They need time to talk and a location to be in.
Paul Gifford of the First Assembly of God church said the homeless think that no one cares about them. It takes time to show them they matter and that they can be helped, and that they deserve and are worthy of love.
Gifford, who also spent that night in a tent, had started Code Blue before it was at the recreation building. His program started as a warming center and then the need for more caused it to expand. The county stepped up, donating 25 cots. What they are seeing now, especially with the pandemic, is homelessness from job loss. He is seeing entire families with nowhere to go.
