Gov. Christie Announces Task Force on Homelessness

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has taken the first step in what he hopes will be an aggressive 10-year push to end homelessness in the state.
 
Christie visited the Mercer County shelter and social services agency known as HomeFront on Wednesday and later signed an executive order establishing a task force to devise a long-term plan to alleviate homelessness.
 
"This is something that I'm really concerned about," Christie said. "It's something that makes our state a lesser place to live in when we have people who don't have a home to go to at night, who don't have a place to raise their children or give them a sense of safety."
 
The new 26-member Interagency Council on Homelessness will have a year or so to report back to the governor with a comprehensive approach to breaking the cycle of poverty that leads to chronic homelessness.
 
Christie said the council will be tasked with making recommendations to improve laws and policies that better utilize state money that is directed to homelessness and prevention efforts.
 
"This really is all about jobs for so many of these folks," the governor said after touring HomeFront's day care center. "What they want more than anything else is to be able to go to work every day, to have the money to support themselves and to put food on their own table."
 
Human Services Commissioner Jen Velez said chronic homelessness is down about 20 percent from last year in New Jersey, but the number of previously stable families finding themselves suddenly homeless has risen with the lackluster economy.