Great news for Tent City residents

April 4, 2013

Today is a great day for the homeless of Tent City, and for all advocates for the homeless who have worked so hard, for so long.  The first attachment to this email is a letter that we just submitted to the Court, which encloses the final Consent Order relating to the litigation with Lakewood.  Among other things, this Consent Order:  (1) guarantees that all of Tent City’s current residents (including anyone who is living in Tent City and counted in a census that will soon be done) may not be ejected by Lakewood unless and until those residents are first offered a plan that provides for (and actually provides) safe and adequate housing for at least a full year; (2) gives this right -- without any “disqualifiers” or set deadline for the closing of Tent City -- to all of the current residents (at least those who cooperate in an agreed-upon census and screening process, which includes strict protections for privacy and confidentiality); and (3) requires Lakewood to dismiss all of the charges that it filed in municipal court and elsewhere about supposed “code violations” in Tent City.  In short, this Consent Order gives the people of Tent City everything they wanted, and more, given that a year or more of housing equates to the federal definition of permanent housing, not just emergency shelter.  And the news gets better.

The second attachment to this email is a letter agreement that supplements the Consent Order and imposes additional obligations on Lakewood until the last current resident has obtained housing.  Lakewood is now required to:  (1) provide pick-up of trash deposited for collection by Tent City’s residents (including regular and adequate collections by Lakewood from the trash containers and 30-yard dumpster); (2) permit the servicing of the portable toilets in Tent City; (3) allow supporters of the current residents to deliver food, clothing and other necessary supplies into Tent City (so long as any supporter’s vehicle departs from Tent City after the delivery has been completed); and (4) permit the holes in the main dirt road to be filled with dirt and leveled, in order to make the road passable for emergency vehicles (after receipt and approval by Lakewood of a written proposal for this work, which approval cannot be unreasonably withheld).  Lakewood has also agreed that Minister Steve Brigham has the option of continuing to live in Tent City until the day comes when all of the current residents have housing.  The Court will also retain jurisdiction to enforce the Consent Order and make sure Lakewood complies with all of its obligations.

Finally, after decades of refusing to do so, Ocean County and the Board of Social Services have agreed to sit down to discuss establishing the first housing center (shelter) in Ocean County.  As a show of good will, the Atlantic City Rescue Mission (the “Mission”) has dismissed its claims against the County “without prejudice,” meaning that the Mission is free to file suit again in the hopefully unlikely event that the discussions with the County about cooperation do not yield progress.  Given, however, the substantial new funding that is becoming available post-Sandy, the opportunities for cooperation seem greater than ever before.  The Mission will also welcome input from other non-profits about possible ways to develop a housing center in Ocean County.

This is a great day, but much work remains to be done.  We will continue to stand with the people of Tent City, and continue to work for the day when homelessness in Ocean County is no more.

(As soon as I figure out how to insert the attachments I'll post them for your reading pleasure.  Larry)

Report on Court Hearing: Possible Break-Through With Lakewood

For years, our Coalition has stood side by side with the homeless men and women forced to live in the woods of Lakewood’s Tent City.  Together, we have stood up for some basic principles.  For example, we believe that the homeless have a right to survive on public land until the government gives them a better place to go -- that is, the safe indoor housing that everyone deserves.  Now, we are on the verge of a break-through.

Late Friday, after years of trying -- unsuccessfully -- to eject the homeless, Lakewood finally agreed with what our Coalition has been saying all along.  Under a settlement-in-principle announced by the Court, Lakewood would be barred from ejecting any of Tent City’s current residents unless and until those residents are given housing -- not just a motel room for a night or two, but safe and adequate housing for at least a full year.  Below is a link to one of the many news reports about this major development:
http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2013/03/judge_homeless_at_lakewoods_te.html

As a first step, the parties would cooperate in a census of Tent City’s residents -- approximately 100 men and women by some estimates -- as well as a screening of the residents for possible governmental benefits.   At the same time, the litigation against Ocean County and its Board of Social Services (the “County”) will continue -- that is, at least until the County stops turning away large numbers of homeless men, women and children, and finally makes emergency shelter available in the County.   In addition, the County continues to face a claim for more than $2 million in damages alleged by the Atlantic City Rescue Mission, to which the County for years has “exported” large numbers of its homeless without fair reimbursement.

Much work remains to be done, including finalization of the settlement-in-principle with Lakewood.  However, thanks to you and the Coalition, we are making tremendous progress.  The residents of Tent City are safe from ejectment -- and, finally, moving closer to the housing that this case has always been about.

ACY Rescue Mission turns OC homeless away

Atlantic City Rescue Mission says it won't accept homeless people from Ocean County

Press of Atlantic City, August 16, 2012--By Donna Weaver, Staff Writer 

The Ocean County Department of Social Services may have to find a new place to send the homeless instead of the Atlantic City Rescue Mission.

 Last week, the Rescue Mission informed the county Department of Social Services that they will no longer accept homeless people from Ocean County, county Administrator Carl Block said Thursday.

 “Why is Ocean County being singled out? The homeless problem is not an Ocean County problem, it’s a statewide problem and it’s a national problem,” Block said.

Last year, the Rescue Mission filed a lawsuit against the Ocean County Board of Social Services alleging an overage of homeless people being sent south.

In an agreement with the county, the Rescue Mission received a donation each year to provide services to Ocean County homeless sent to Atlantic City. The lawsuit alleges that the Rescue Mission has spent more than $2 million in six years to provide services, while the county only donated $105,000.

 Last week, an employee from the county Department of Social Services called the Rescue Mission to place a homeless person and they were told the mission was no longer accepting anyone from Ocean County, Block said.

 “In the last year they’ve sued us, and this has somewhat turned adversarial and the lawsuit has turned things that way. It’s making us look like we do nothing for the homeless here and we do. We’re spending millions every year,” Block said.

 Earlier this year, Ocean County sent a purchase order form for a $17,000 donation to the mission and it was never accepted, Block said. For the past several years, the county has provided the mission with a donation to help with service costs.

Bill Southrey, president of the Rescue Mission, said the mission has accepted the donation, but it has not been processed.

 As far as homeless from Ocean County coming to the mission, Southrey said that in the past no one was turned away but pressure has mounted from outside entities who do not want the homeless in Atlantic City.

“I’ve been having the ‘just say no’ kind of discussion. I have the casinos, business and governmental entities who don’t want homeless in the city. I have an edict from the governor,” Southrey said.

Over a five-day period last week, the mission stopped accepting people from outside Atlantic City and Atlantic County, but that has since been lifted, he said.

 The mission has been telling counties for some time to develop their own resources and stop sending people to Atlantic City because the facility is beyond capacity and many times the counties don’t look any further than the mission, he said.

“We will consider taking people in if they have the right referral, but there is no guarantee,” he said.

“My approach to how we do work is to serve everyone. But at this point, I’m stuck between a rock and a hard place. The hardest thing for me to do is to turn someone away,” he said.

Report: Christie says homeless contribute to crime rate in Atlantic City

Gov. Chris Christie stopped at LBI last week, bashing the state government for not passing his budget and answering questions from the public. The Sandpaper (Aug 2, 2012) said in one response to a question about overcrowding at the Atlantic City Rescue Mission, the homeless contributed to the crime rate in Atlantic City.

From the article:
Dr. Melinda Boye-Nolan also asked that the state respect the area’s influx of homeless people. A board member of Family Promise of Southern Ocean County, a nonprofit interfaith organization based in Barnegat that helps needy families, she said she was concerned about the recent lawsuit against the county on behalf of the Atlantic City Rescue Mission. Looking for Christie’s advice on the matter, she said Family Promise has been sending the county’s homeless to the mission because Ocean County has no shelter to offer them.
In response, Christie said the mission is inundated with homeless people from many counties around southern New Jersey, and the problem is contributing to the city’s crime rate. He said it’s unfair to the homeless and to the city, especially while it’s trying to revitalize itself as a resort destination. He thought the situation needed better coordination among the different counties, which he said Human Services Commissioner Jennifer Velez would look into.
“This is a real problem,” said Christie. “… Lots of folks are sending homeless to Atlantic County, many more than the mission can handle. The homeless folks are just sleeping on the streets in Atlantic City; they have no place else to go,” he explained. “The mission down there does great work and does a great job, but they only have so much capacity. And when they can’t take people, and people begin to get turned away, it’s creating a bigger problem in Atlantic County.”

Coalition Update: Progress in Homeless Litigation

Nov.30, 2011

There were multiple signs of progress during a status conference held today in the Ocean County Homeless Litigation.  For everyone's planning, there is no court hearing until Friday, January 6th at 9 a.m. -- the still-scheduled date/time for the hearing on Lakewood's motion to shut down Tent City (in Judge Foster's courtroom at the Ocean County Courthouse, 100 Hooper Avenue, Courtroom 3, in Toms River).  We will be filing our written opposition to Lakewood's motion next week.

Today was a good day for the Coalition.  First, Lakewood has now agreed to meet to discuss settlement possibilities, either informally or with a professional mediator.  The preliminary discussions have been positive and constructive.  We do not know where the discussions will lead, but we applaud Lakewood for its willingness to seek a cooperative interim and long-term solution to the real problem:  that Lakewood's homeless, like homeless throughout Ocean County, have nowhere else to go.

Second, Judge Foster ruled that because of the public importance of the issues, he will consider a request from us for court-ordered mediation involving all the parties, including the County.  We will make such a request tomorrow.  Judge Foster confirmed, on the record, that the County could participate in mediation "without prejudice" -- that is, without concern that participating in a mediation could ever be used against the County in the litigation. 

Finally, the Court set a schedule for progress on the claims of the Homeless Individuals and the Atlantic City Rescue Mission against Ocean County and Lakewood, including the Mission's $2,000,000 damages claim against the County.  The County and Lakewood were directed to file Answers to these claims by December 12th.  The Court also authorized our moving forward with litigation discovery from the County and Lakewood, including our serving both with document demands and interrogatories (written questions requiring sworn answers). All discovery, which we expect to include depositions, is now scheduled to conclude by June 1st. We continue to hope that Ocean County's homeless can be helped through cooperation, not further litigation. However, we will continue the court case to its conclusion if the Homeless Individuals have no other choice.

ACY Rescue Mission joins amended suit, seeks $2M reimbursement

This afternoon, we filed new and expanded court claims on behalf of Ocean County’s homeless against Lakewood Township and Ocean County.  As you know, Lakewood began the lawsuit by seeking to eject the community of approximately 70 homeless men and women, including victims of the economy, living in the Lakewood tent city on publicly owned land in the woods.  In addition, the Atlantic City Rescue Mission has now sided against Lakewood and Ocean County, including claims against Lakewood and the County for, collectively, in excess of $2 million:  the costs that the Mission contends it has wrongfully had to bear to provide emergency assistance to residents of Ocean County and Lakewood.

Among other things, the court filing today (an Amended Answer, Counterclaim and Third Party Complaint) alleges that Lakewood and Ocean County have violated New Jersey’s General Poor Laws by turning away thousands of men, women and children who sought emergency shelter and other emergency assistance.  The filing also alleges that Ocean County has engaged in systematic, improper “interpretations” of other laws, the Specific Poor Laws, and wrongfully denied emergency shelter under those laws.  A copy of today's court filing is attached.  The main defenses to Lakewood's Complaint start on p. 5, and the claims against Lakewood and the County are on pp. 8 - 34.

In addition, as you already know, Lakewood has now -- more than a year into the litigation, with the winter approaching -- filed a motion asking Judge Foster to declare that Lakewood can force the homeless out of their tents in the woods, even though we contend that there is no available shelter for them in Ocean County. Once again, the hearing on Lakewood's motion is scheduled for Friday, November 18th at 9 a.m. at the Superior Court of New Jersey, 100 Hooper Avenue, in Toms River.

Jeffrey J. Wild
Member of the Firm
Lowenstein Sandler PC
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