“Best Day at the Beach,” Seven Presidents Park, Long Branch, June 14. CHRIS KELLY staff LONG BRANCH — The Long Branch Concordance hosted speakers on the issue of finding shelter during its Dec. 16 meeting.
Among the presenters were: Shanna Goldstein, director of Family Promise in Keansburg; Sandra Fills, director of the homeless shelter at Fort Monmouth; and Kathleen Weir, of the Monmouth County Office of Emergency Assistance.
The three presentations acknowledged that finding housing is a problem for many residents.
Goldstein explained that Family Promise is unique from other shelter programs.
“We are the only shelter for families for Monmouth County,” she said. “It is much more of a process. We develop a case plan, the goal is that they find employment and save 80 percent of their income while they are in the program.”
Goldstein said that the program works with five families at a time, who are lodged at various church congregations. She stressed that the program requires an application and waiting process so families cannot just show up and get housing.
Middletown Day, Croydon Hall, Sept. 26. CHRIS KELLY staff “We wait-list 10 families at any given time,” she said.
Goldstein said that what separates Family Promise from other shelters is the extensive support the program provides even after a family leaves.
“For families that successfully graduate the program, we provide the first month’s rent and security and we help furnish their apartments,” she said. “We also have housewarming baskets that we give them.
“We do whatever we can to make sure they get into their own place on the right foot,” she added. “Our families have it very good. Some families don’t want to ever move out.
The Lakehouse, Loch Arbour, Oct. 24. CHRIS KELLY staff She explained some of the requirements of the program. “The families have to be working and have some form of income,” Goldstein said. “We provide intensive case management, they meet with the case manager weekly to see if they are meeting their goals.”
Goldstein said the program is not for everyone, but many more people have accessed help lately.
“Some families don’t want to stay in churches, they don’t want to stay in a community setting with other families,” she said. “We’ve been having families stay a lot longer.”
Goldstein added that the program is staffed by volunteers who generally try to stay out of the way.
“The volunteers are not intrusive, they don’t ask them for their story or anything like that,” she said.
She also said that the program accepts all types of families and has had a high success rate so far.
Ocean Township Italian American Festival, Joe Palaia Park, Aug. 16. CHRIS KELLY staff “The majority of our families are single moms, but we are the only shelter in the county that does take intact families,” she said. “Eighty percent of our families move into permanent housing.
“Some families come in and they are there a week or two, others come in for five or six months.”
Fills spoke about the Fort Monmouth homeless shelter.
“You have to be a Monmouth County resident, you have to be here 30 days and be 18 or over,” she said. “We have 10 beds for females, 21 for males.”
Because the shelter is located on the grounds of Fort Monmouth, background checks are considered tougher than at other shelters.
“We try to work with the clients, they have to pass a background check and fill out the right information,” Fills said. “The client has to have the appropriate identification card, a government-issued I.D. That is why it is really important for us to get our referrals from [the county division of] social services.”
Cemetery Hill, West Long Branch, Dec. 20. CHRIS KELLY staff Fills said the program also helps to find permanent housing and employment for those at the shelter.
“We provide them with whatever they need to meet their basic needs. Our goal is to ensure that each client has a place to go when they leave the shelter. We help the clients look for employment if they are unemployed,” she continued.
Another option for the at-risk population is emergency assistance, which is available to people receiving some forms of public assistance who are in financial crisis or are homeless.
“The most important thing about our services is the client has to be a [resident] in Monmouth County,” Weir said. “Probably our biggest issue with many of you is we get referrals and calls coming from Florida, coming from Ocean County.
Weir said emergency assistance is available for only 12 months, and the goal of the program is to find the most affordable housing possible.
“If they are single adults, our first choice of placement is the Monmouth shelter. We are required to use the most affordable place. We only put people in motels if we are full everywhere. Even if we do, it is very temporary.”
Some people can be excluded from the assistance if they are homeless due to problem behaviors.
“When they are abusive or beating up another resident and cause their own homelessness, they are not eligible for emergency assistance,” Weir said. “We have people actually say, ‘I didn’t pay my rent,’ then they are not eligible.
“If they refuse to pay, then they are no longer eligible,” she added. “They can’t just walk in and say, ‘I’m homeless.’ We have to see how the money was spent.”
Residents can only remain in the program for 12 months, with very few extensions granted.
“We can only have them for 12-month periods,” Hines said. “We have applications for extensions, but there has to be medical documentation for a six-month extension.”
Contact Kenny Walter at
kwalter@gmnews.com.