County Gives Update on Code Blue Program

CREST HAVEN – Progress continues to help the homeless in Cape May County. 
According to a release, freeholders and staff hosted a community stakeholder meeting to begin the discussions creating the Homeless Trust Fund Advisory Board in February. The Homeless Trust Fund comes from a fee on certain transactions in the Cape May County Clerk’s Office.
The funds are put aside specifically to assist the homeless. Currently the fund is generating roughly $75,000 annually. About 30 organizations participated in the discussion on what direction the county should do with this funding.
This continues the community dialogue that took place in January. The county sponsored a seminar with a homeless expert from Florida, Dan McDonald. He spoke about the Housing First model. Freeholder Director Gerald Thornton and Freeholder Jeffrey Pierson visited The Branches outreach in Rio Grande for lunch and a discussion with its staff and individuals who are homeless.
“Dialogue is so important through this entire process,” stated Pierson, liaison to Health and Human Services. “We are trying to do a lot of listening to see what we can do with the resources we do have. This isn’t something we can fix overnight but we are committed to looking at whatever options are available to us.”
On Jan. 15, the state Department of Community Affairs announced that it was accepting pre-applications to enter a lottery for Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers (HCV).
Staff from the Emergency Assistance (EA) unit of the Division of Social Services did an in-person outreach to The Branches to inform the consumers and the Branches volunteers of the announcement.
A process was put into place for consumers to present to the Division of Social Services and an EA staff person who would assist them with their online application for the Section 8 HCV.
EA staff also outreached to the consumers and the Branches volunteers regarding the Emergency Assistance Extension signed into law by Gov. Murphy. This law extends the lifetime limits of people fitting certain criteria that had previously exhausted their lifetime limits for EA.
Thornton and Pierson also held an internal staff meeting to discuss how Code Blue efforts were going.
There are anywhere from four to 12 individuals who are being placed in warming centers on most nights when a Code Blue is in effect.
The county offers transportation to and from the warming centers. The most use the center in Middle Township, with some going to the center in Lower Township.