In 2019, 8,864 individual people within 6,748 households, experiencing homelessness, included individuals and families in emergency shelters, transitional housing, safe havens, and those unsheltered living on the streets or in other public areas (NJ Coalition to End Homelessness, 2019).

As of January 2020, New Jersey had an estimated 9,662 experiencing homelessness on any given day, as reported by Continuums of Care to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Of that total, 1,081 were family households, 595 were Veterans, 514 were unaccompanied young adults (aged 18-24), and 1,743 were individuals experiencing chronic homelessness (USICH, 2020). 

Despite ongoing efforts by social justice advocates, the severity of homelessness in New Jersey remains unchanged, and worse, unacknowledged. In the late 1980s, President Ronald Reagan urged the public to create changes for what was seemingly an upcoming homelessness epidemic in the United States. However, since the 1990s, the issue of homelessness in America has become all but unnoticed. Unfortunately for the individuals who are still suffering from the negative ramifications of housing price increases, mental and physical health disparities, etc., homelessness remains a daily struggle.

To effectively eradicate the homelessness crisis in New Jersey, we are reaching out to gain signatures as a way to urge the state legislature to improve the overall conditions for individuals who are struggling with homelessness and/or housing insecurity. Our goal is to raise awareness about this unspoken crisis so that we can urge the state and federal government officials to make changes regarding access to safe, affordable, permanent, stable housing via the passing of more effective federal and state bills.