Homeless Advocates Criticize Lakewood Tree Cutting, Renew Push For Transitional Housing

LAKEWOOD, NJ — A move by Lakewood Township officials to cut down trees in the town square to deter homeless people from gathering has drawn criticism from advocates for the homeless, who called the efforts "an atrocity" and renewed calls for transitional housing in Ocean County.

The Town Square trees were cut down in early August, with trees in a nearby public parking lot being cut a few days later.

Telephone messages left for Lakewood Mayor Raymond Coles have not been answered. Coles told the Asbury Park Press that the trees were cut down at the recommendation of the township's quality of life task force, after town officials received "numerous complaints from residents and township employees" about homeless people urinating and defecating in the area.

Rev. Steve Brigham, a longtime advocate who has worked to assist the homeless in Ocean County for more than 20 years, blasted Lakewood officials over the tree-cutting and said it was just another step in removing all assistance for those struggling to live.

"The Township of Lakewood is slowly removing all the resources and public places downtown where the poor and homeless would come to socialize and feel comfortable," Brigham said in a public Facebook post. The town's community center was demolished several months ago, and churches that have been a source of help have closed.

"There used to be 5 churches that had soup kitchens, and now there are none," Brigham wrote. "There are a couple of groups that have tried to fill in the gaps by coming out to the Town Square and Muster Zone, but now they will find no shade to work from."

"It is unbelievable in this country that boasts of some of the highest standards of civil rights in the world that we have these atrocities happening right before our very eyes," he wrote in a second post after the parking lot trees were cut.

It's not the first time Lakewood officials have taken action to move the homeless out of an area of the township. In 2014, Lakewood bulldozed "Tent City," the homeless encampment off Cedar Bridge Avenue where 100 people had been living for several years.

The move came after a court battle to remove the encampment, with Lakewood officials agreeing to pay for a year's worth of temporary housing and utilities assistance that not all of those living there were eligible to receive. Three accepted a check for a flat amount, authorities said at the time.

It was a temporary solution that didn't address the deeper needs, critics said at the time.

Lakewood officials said the township was bearing the brunt of the homeless population of Ocean County, which did not have transitional housing to help the homeless get back on their feet, NJ Spotlight reported. There also were people coming from other areas of the state, Lakewood officials said.

At the same time, Lakewood approved an ordinance that barred people from sleeping in public as part of efforts to further deter the homeless from congregating in the township. It drew protests, NJ.com reported.

Homelessness in Ocean County is a significant issue. According to the 2021 report on the annual Point In Time survey conducted of the homeless population of New Jersey, there were 366 people who were without permanent housing. Of those, 67 were "chronically unhoused," and on that night, Jan. 26, 2021, there were 15 people who had no shelter.

The lack of transitional housing — Ocean County is the only county in the state without a dedicated facility — has become the rallying point for those advocating for the homeless. There are efforts underway to create permanent facilities to help people beyond simply housing them, but the work is being done by a patchwork of nonprofit organizations trying to fill the void.

Paul Hulse, who now is the CEO of Just Believe Inc., the Toms River-based organization that has been providing the volunteer and organizational support for Toms River's Code Blue shelter during the winter at Riverwood Park, wrote in a post on Patch about the pitfalls of the one-year agreement that preceded the bulldozing of Tent City:

"... one year from now, will we find newly re-homeless folks who once had a community, including a support system of minister, sanitation facilities, donated food to be cooked communally, and neighbors, instead scattered around the area, disconnected, not knowing where to turn? It seems likely. In whose back yard will they be looking for shelter?" Hulse wrote in April 2014. "Ocean County can, and must, do better."

A year later, Mike McNeil of NJ Steps, a Lakewood-based nonprofit, said housing alone wasn't a solution.

"You can’t put everybody in a house without some type of wraparound service," McNeil, the executive director, told WHYY. "You just can’t do it. So what has happened is that once we put them in, who’s responsible?"

That need for both housing and services to end the cycle of homelessness has been the focus of Hulse and Just Believe. Eight years later, Hulse and others, including Terrance Turnbach, a former Toms River Township councilman, are working to bring transitional housing to Ocean County.

Just Believe recently announced plans for Larry's Home, to serve veterans who are homeless and in need of help beyond just a roof over their heads to help them return to society.

The group also does outreach to those who are homeless and living in various spots in the woods, trying to help them find a path out of those conditions.

In the meantime, they continue to advocate for greater government assistance beyond the motel vouchers that the Ocean County Department of Social Services provides to those lacking housing.

"The answer to helping transition the homeless off the streets of Ocean County is not to cut down the trees they lay under, nor is it to sell the Township Community Center which used to house the homeless during Code Blue," Turnbach wrote in a public post on Facebook. "When you push the homeless into the shadows, you end up with another Tent City."

"Why not follow the leadership of the Borough or Seaside Heights and call for the County leadership to take the necessary action to finally create a transitional housing center for the homeless like every other County in the State of New Jersey has already done?" Turnbach wrote.

"The answer is not pushing the homeless to places where you do not have to see them, the answer is offering a place with services to address the underlying conditions that have led to one being homeless," he wrote.