November 16, 2015
Elise Young
As New York City cracks down on panhandling, towns served by New Jersey Transit’s busiest rail lines are in a homelessness crisis, with a surge of people taking shelter in train stations and other public places.
Total homelessness in New Jersey has dropped 27 percent since 2011, but an increasing number of people are avoiding shelters and sleeping in areas not intended as living quarters. In Bergen, Hudson and Essex counties, thick with Manhattan commuters, the unsheltered increase is 22 percent to 86 percent. In Mercer County, where Trenton’s bus and rail station is on Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor, the number has more than doubled.
New York City’s homeless population, meanwhile, has soared, reaching a record of 60,670 staying in shelters in January, according to the Coalition for the Homeless, a Manhattan-based nonprofit service group. In recent weeks, Mayor Bill de Blasio has led breakups of encampments, discouraged passers-by from handing over spare change and deployed more outreach workers to push shelters.