Code Blue Shelter Burden Shifts

COURT HOUSE – As of Jan. 1, Cape May County municipalities assumed the responsibility of providing warming centers for the homeless during Code Blue alerts. This change in practice had some municipalities with the greatest share of homeless individuals scrambling to put a plan in place.
By state law, a Code Blue alert is declared when the temperature drops below 32 degrees with precipitation or 25 degrees without precipitation. The county Office of Emergency Management has the responsibility to issue the alert.
In years past, Cape May County responded to the alerts with a voucher system that housed homeless individuals in motels during the cold weather period. That changed this year.
Homeless advocates say that their pressure on the county to devise an alternative to what they termed a “broken voucher system” led the freeholders to disavow the voucher process altogether placing responsibility on the municipalities. County officials stated that state law makes providing warming centers a local concern. So far the shift is not going smoothly.
Homeless advocates, faith-based groups and non-profits are all stepping up to help, but formal warming centers in the municipalities with the largest share of homeless individuals remain elusive.
On Dec. 3, Middle Township Committee heard an update from the township’s Chief of Emergency Medical Services, Sean McDevitt.
McDevitt spoke of an imminent arrangement with Cape Community Church on Route 9 and Oyster Road, Burleigh. No actual contract between the church and the township had yet been brought to the governing body, but a plan seemed to be in place.
Two weeks later, the township’s governing body passed a resolution designating the lobbies of the police building in Court House and the Police Substation in Rio Grande as the official warming centers. 
This solution was termed temporary while efforts proceeded on the more appropriate warming center.
The police department lobbies are small and cramped, they offer no separate areas for men and women, and they provide no bathroom facilities. The areas will be monitored by camera with no township staff present.
Committee member Timothy Donohue said that the plan to use the Cape Community Church “is still on the table” and being worked on. The move to designate the police lobbies was made because the county wanted something formally on the books.
Homeless advocate Sam Kelly spoke briefly at the governing body meeting and then left saying that all levels of government had abandoned the homeless.
Kelly argued that many homeless with active warrants for their arrests would not seek shelter at a police facility.
Kelly spoke of recent meetings with Assemblyman Robert Andrzejczak (D-1st) where organizations working with the county’s homeless asked for state help in responding to county needs.
Kelly said he was hopeful after that meeting, but called Andrzejczak “missing in action.”
Kelly wants the county to maintain the voucher system while actively working with municipalities on a better and more permanent solution. 
He urged Middle Township officials to send a letter to the Governor’s Office asking for state intervention with the county. Township officials say a letter had been sent signed by all three members of the Township Committee. 
The county will continue to offer vouchers for families with children during Code Blue alerts since municipal solutions so far offer no options that meet state legal requirements when children are involved.
The county is also providing some budgetary support to the municipalities. Middle Township will receive $25,000 toward the cost of its warming centers. Wildwood City and Lower Township will each receive $20,000.
New Jersey’s official “Point in Time Count” of the homeless for 2018 showed the county with 103. Advocates say that is an undercount.
So far the weather is cooperating with relatively moderate temperatures. When Code Blue alerts will begin and for how long they will last, no one knows.
Middle Township will continue its efforts to get a warming center up and running at the Cape Community Church. How receptive the homeless population will be to using the small police lobby facilities until some other option is in place is unknown. 
To contact Vince Conti, email vconti@cmcherald.com.