31-07-2025
NJ homeless count shows 84% surge in number of unsheltered people in Paterson
PATERSON — The number of people living unsheltered on the city's streets jumped by 84%, from 76 in 2024 to 140 last year, according to results of the latest statewide one-day homeless count.
The surge in unsheltered people in the city contrasted with an 18% decrease in Paterson's overall numbers for homelessness, data that includes people staying in shelters.
The total for homeless people in Paterson — combining those who are sheltered and unsheltered — dropped from 411 in 2024 to 336 in 2025, according to the annual Point-in-Time count, an effort conducted every January that is coordinated by Monarch Housing Associates and commissioned by the New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency.
Social service advocates and charity workers say the homeless numbers for Paterson don't tell the full story. And with housing programs facing impending federal funding cuts, experts warn that the homelessness problem in cities like Paterson will get worse before it gets better.'We know there are many more people out there than were counted,' said Kelley Brown, director of the Heart of Hannah Women's Center, which runs a 25-bed family shelter and provides housing programs like rental assistance.
'Those numbers are shockingly low,' said Vince Barra, a former mayor of Allendale who comes to Paterson weekly with northern Bergen County church groups that provide help to people living in homeless encampments.
Statewide, the Monarch count for 2025 found an 8% increase in overall homelessness and a 15% rise for those people classified as unsheltered.
Under fire from City Hall
In the past 16 months, advocates for the needy say, the city's homeless residents have come under fire from City Hall.
First, there was a proposal to regulate charity groups that have been giving out food, clothing and toiletries on Paterson streets. Then there was a plan to impose fines and jail time on people who were camping out in public.
Both of those proposed City Council ordinances failed in the face of community opposition.
Then, last winter, city officials moved the location of Paterson's 'Code Blue' warming center from a facility close to the middle of the city to one on the outskirts.
People in the social service community said they think the change in the warming center location is part of the explanation for the jump in the number of unsheltered people in Paterson.
'I think it definitely is a factor,' said Richard Williams, director of the St. Paul's Community Development Corporation, which provided staff members who helped in the statewide homeless count.
In 2024, when the warming center was at 60 Temple St., counters found more than 90 people at that spot, folks who were included in the 'sheltered' homeless data, Williams said. But this year, outreach workers who went to the new warming center on West Broadway, at the Haledon border, found just 12 people there, he noted.
Brown, from the Heart of Hannah group, said officials and organizations are trying to address the problems caused by the new warming center location, either by finding a different site or by providing transportation to the current one.
In the past year, there also has been a change in the way federal housing officials classify people at warming centers, said Passaic County government spokesperson Lindsay Reed. Under the revision, people staying at warming center are now classified as 'unsheltered' if they are in chairs rather than beds, Reed said.
Paterson Press asked Mayor Andre Sayegh for his thoughts about the latest homeless numbers. His chief of staff, Dacil Tilos, issued a statement on his behalf.
'The mayor expresses deep concern over the sharp increase in unsheltered homelessness highlighted in this year's Point-in-Time Count,' Tilos said. 'This rise indicates both the growing demand for emergency housing in our region and the critical shortage of affordable and supportive housing options in the area.
"While the city has worked hard to expand outreach, connect people to services, and implement harm reduction strategies, shelter capacity still falls short of the need,' Tilos said.
Working to increase housing and shelter capacity
The City Hall official said the Sayegh administration is working to develop housing solutions, increase shelter capacity in the city and provide mental health and addiction services.
Roberta Farber of the Paterson Task Force, a group that runs two family shelters, said the city needs more beds for its homeless residents. She said downtown store owners tell her it's common for people to use their business vestibules as places to sleep at night.
'There's more and more people who are homeless and nowhere to put them,' Farber said.
Laetitia Cairoli, development director at the Mill Street program called 'Oasis – A Haven for Women and Children,' said her organization isn't in a position to comment on the homeless count numbers but that it has encountered a significant increase in people seeking housing support.
'We anticipate that the community's needs will only increase with the upcoming cuts to SNAP, Medicaid and other government programs,' Cairoli said. 'We're strategizing to improve our ability to respond. This involves seeking new sources of [private] funding for Oasis, as — while needs increase — government funding to the organization has been reduced.'
Zellie Thomas of Paterson's Black Lives Matter group and the Rev. Sarah Anthony of Grace Gospel Church in the city's 4th Ward both said they expect homelessness numbers to rise because of the federal social service cuts.
'We have a lot of work ahead of us as a city,' Anthony said.
This article originally appeared on NJ homeless count shows 84% surge in unsheltered in Paterson
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