Hudson County Homeless Moved To Newark, Motel Declared Unsanitary

Newark city officials are questioning whether the decision to shut down a Jersey City motel – which was housing several families receiving assistance from Hudson County – is affecting the quality of care that the municipality can provide to its own homeless residents.

On Dec. 29, after Hudson County officials decided to remove around 120 people from the Starlite Motel due to allegedly unsanitary and dangerous conditions, the families were moved to the Newark YMCA shelter, NJ.com reported.

A group of Jersey City pastors working under the banner Jersey City Together protested the move at the time, saying it was unfair to the relocated families, NJ.com reported.

Since then, Newark officials have questioned whether the move has also affected their own homeless population.

“The perception that exists by us being together here and talking about this problem, is that the county of Hudson is dumping the problem because Newark has a facility here,” East Ward Councilman Augusto Amador said during the Newark municipal council meeting on Tuesday.

Officials from the YMCA and Hudson County’s Department of Family Services told Newark council members that the move was part of an ongoing cooperative agreement, and that it was not forcing any Newark homeless onto the street, NJ.com reported.

Officials added that the move was only intended to be temporary, and that four of the affected families have already been placed in a new home, NJ.com stated.

According to the 2015 New Jersey Point-In-Time Count, an annual, volunteer-led effort to determine the total number of homeless in the state, there were about 917 homeless individuals living in Hudson County during last year’s count.

• See related article: Hudson County Has Third-Most Homeless Residents In New Jersey

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