Steve Nagel's comments

Steve Nagel, Executive Director of Info-Line, Middlesex County, addressed the Ocean County Board of Freeholders during our session with them in October.  Here are his notes from his presentation:

The homeless are not the Clem Kliddlehopper of Red Skelton's day, but are:

• recently unemployed
• underemployed and unable to afford housing
• the majority of our homeless are children.  The National Alliance to End Homelessness estimates the average age of a  homeless person, nationally, it 6 years old

How many of us are only one or two paychecks away from homelessness?

Middlesex County is addressing this through:

• organizing two years ago a 501 (c) 3 to administer the management of the county's 10-year plan to end homelessness
• implemented the Homeless Trust Fund.  The first round of funding of over $100K is going to non-profits that support the homeless.  (The Middlesex County Clerk wantes me to share with you how tere was very little resistance to implementing the fund, and it has not been an issue to implement or administer it.)
• starting to implement the Housing First model.  Middlesex County is reallocating HUD vouchers to provide to the Continuum of Care to provide housing vouchers to the homeless and precariously housed.
• the engagement of a longitudinal study to see the savings on moving people out of homelessness and into permanent housing.