MANALAPAN – Following through on a promise she made to residents several weeks ago, Manalapan Mayor Susan Cohen has taken the community’s concerns about the Manalapan Manor residential healthcare facility to a higher authority.
In a letter to Gov. Phil Murphy, Cohen wrote, “We implore you for assistance in getting this facility shut down.”
The mayor’s letter to the governor refers to the state-licensed facility on Route 33 that is home to about 50 men and women.
According to municipal officials, Manalapan Manor has been the scene of many calls for police assistance this year. In addition, residents of the community at large have reported problematic interactions with residents of the facility at businesses on nearby Woodward Road.
In her letter to Murphy, Cohen said issues relating to Manalapan Manor have been ongoing for more than six years.
She wrote, “This residential care facility … houses a population of New Jersey residents who are truly disadvantaged and caught in a system that robs them of their dignity and self-worth. … The township, primarily through its police, emergency medical services and health departments, have struggled with issues relative to the management and care of residents at this facility for many years.
“The 50 or so residents at this facility are housed in a manner that should not be acceptable with anyone. The township has made it very clear to the Division of Codes and Standards and to the Bureau of Rooming and Boarding House Standards of our concerns with the conditions of the facility and the management.
“The division and the bureau essentially hide behind the existing regulations and insist there is nothing more that can be done to improve the conditions,” Cohen wrote.
Cohen informed Murphy of the following:
• Three residents of Manalapan Manor have been killed by motor vehicles in front of the
facility on Route 33 since 2014 – one each in 2014, 2015 and 2016 – as they
walked along or across the highway to access retail stores in the vicinity;
• A resident was found dead in the facility in 2012 and one of the secondary causes listed
on the death certificate was malnutrition;
• A resident was found dead due to a heroin overdose in the facility in 2016;
• A resident suicide on June 13, 2019;
• For the period, July 1, 2019 through Nov. 5, 2019, the Manalapan Police Department
responded to 339 calls at the Manalapan Manor. These calls included multiple numbers
of disorderly persons, missing person reports, emergency medical services support, assault, mental health/suicide concerns, and theft;
• Additionally, the Manalapan Police Department responded to 56 calls during the same
time period to Walgreens, 69 calls to WaWa (both at Route 33 and Woodward Road a quarter-mile east of Manalapan Manor) for issues being created by Manalapan Manor residents on the properties, including disorderly persons, harassment, trespassing and suspicious persons.
“In the summer of 2017, there was an ownership change (at Manalapan Manor) and the situation has only gotten worse. The township continues to receive multiple complaints daily from family members of persons living at Manalapan Manor, community members who interact on the site about unsatisfactory conditions, residents who live in the area, and business owners and workers who are being harassed and mistreated by the residents of the facility,” Cohen wrote.
“Some examples of these complaints include residents having to forfeit their Social Security
checks, leaving them no money to spend or to save to find housing on their own; multiple
inoperative toilets at the same time; backing up sewage in bathtubs, infestations of cockroaches, bedbugs and flies; strong odors of cigarettes; insufficient food; and generally dirty and un-clean conditions,” the mayor informed the governor.
“Residents of (Manalapan Manor) are often wandering on Route 33 and dangerously
panhandling in the middle of the road and at the local Wawa, Walgreens and CVS. They are
putting themselves in danger and frightening residents who drive along the highway and are frequenting these places of business,” Cohen wrote.
“Since 2013, township representatives have met with New Jersey Department of Community Affairs officials several times to air our concerns. In 2018, we met with Lt. Gov. Sheila Oliver who was shocked at the condition of the facility.
“The township believes there needs to be a better standard of facility maintenance, management and care than what is currently being expected and mandated.
“The only option the township believes is viable now is for this facility to be shut down. The
deplorable conditions for the residents of Manalapan Manor and the safety of our residents is paramount.
“The resources being wasted on this failing facility are often too much to quantify, as it is a constant cause for concern on so many levels. No human being should have to live like that. Residents of Manalapan should not have to fear driving down Route 33 and killing someone or driving into a panhandler,” Cohen wrote to Murphy.
She concluded her letter by saying Manalapan officials are awaiting a response from the governor.