Essex County’s Homeless Total Drops, But Still Leads New Jersey: Study

ESSEX COUNTY, NJ — Essex County once again leads the state in the number of people experiencing homelessness, according to an annual study.

On Monday, Monarch Housing Associates released the results of its 2023 “point in time count,” an annual effort that compiles a wealth of data about the severity and causes of homelessness in the Garden State. During this year’s count, which took place on the evening of Jan. 24, a total of 10,267 people across New Jersey were homeless, researchers said.

It was the first time that the number cracked the 10,000-mark since 2015, the nonprofit said. New Jersey has seen an overall increase of 1,403 identified persons (15.8%) from 2019 to 2023.

There were 1,712 people experiencing homelessness in Essex County on the night of the count – about 17 percent of the state’s total. That total is down from 1,914 people in 2022 (see more local data below).

Researchers said there were several factors behind the increase in New Jersey:

EVICTIONS – "The eviction moratorium was lifted on January 1, 2022. As the court system works its way through the backlog, we are now starting to see those who could not maintain their homes hit the homeless service system."

HOUSING CRISIS – "New Jersey, like the rest of the nation, is in the midst of a housing crisis. There are not enough homes affordable to those making 30% of the area median income or less. The National Low Income Housing Coalition’s Gap Report has identified that within New Jersey for every 100 households looking for a place to call home, there are only 31 units available to them creating a shortage of 224,531 homes for extremely low-income households."

RENT HIKES - "New Jersey municipalities have seen significant rent increases that in many cases exceed national averages. According to the Rent Report for December 2022, prepared by rent.com, New Jersey saw an 8.38% increase in rents year over year."

NO VACANCIES - "The St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank – Federal Reserve Economic Data (FRED) highlights that in 2022, New Jersey had a vacancy rate of 3.7% for rental units, a significant drop from an 11.2% vacancy rate in 2012."

Read the full study and see county-by-county data here.

ESSEX COUNTY

Most of Essex County’s homeless residents were living in Newark, the state’s most populated city, which had 87 percent of the entire county's total (see chart below).

When asked why they were homeless, the most commonly cited reason was “being asked to leave a shared residence” (35 percent). The next most-common reasons were “eviction or risk of eviction” (20%), and “loss or reduction of job income” (9%).

Essex County has routinely found itself atop the statewide list for the past several years. Other recent counts include:

• 2022 – 1,914 people
• 2021 – 1,693 people
• 2020 – 2,214 people

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