WATSON COLEMAN / CRUZ-PEREZ / JASEY / EVANS / GUSCIORA LEGISLATION TARGETING HOMELESSNESS ADVANCES

WATSON COLEMAN / CRUZ-PEREZ / JASEY / EVANS / GUSCIORA LEGISLATION TARGETING HOMELESSNESS ADVANCES

(TRENTON) – Legislation to give counties the ability to establish grant programs to provide affordable housing and support services for the formerly homeless and those at risk of losing their home was released Thursday by a Senate committee.

The bill (A-3101) is sponsored by Assembly Majority Leader Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-Mercer) and Assembly members Nilsa Cruz-Perez (D-Camden), Mila Jasey (D-Essex), Elease Evans (D-Passaic) and Reed Gusciora (D-Mercer).

“The number of homeless, in New Jersey – especially women and children – is unacceptably high and may go even higher as more families face the very real and scary prospect of losing their homes to foreclosure,” said Watson Coleman (D-Mercer). “State and local governments must work together to provide more funding and better services to provide access to affordable housing and ensure families have another option to living in a shelter or on the street.”

The bill would permit counties to create homeless prevention trust funds and establish grant programs to address homelessness.

Watson Coleman said that funds not spent within four years would be transferred to the New Jersey Intragency Council on Homelessness, which would contract with community-based organizations to help safeguard families from homelessness.

The measure was released Thursday by the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee.

It now heads to the full Senate for consideration.

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