this time of year when the temperatures drop social service agencies head out to the streets to get a clearer picture and count of those experiencing homelessness in New Jersey completing an annual survey for residents Without Shelter that number of course increased during last year's count and Advocates say there's a lot of work ahead to get the unhoused connected with the help they need senior correspondent Joanna Gagis has the story can I just let them know that what resources are back here and then through that conversation I say and if you're experiencing homelessness we are doing a survey today we'd like to get you counted in that survey it's a survey that happens once a year called the point in time survey that happens throughout the state and Nation trying to determine how many people are homeless or housing insecure and it just asks everything from where they've been staying how you know how many times have they been homeless in the past year what other needs they might have whether it's mental health substance use anything um so the surveys you know kind of ask all those questions and then all that information is collected by the the state and that's where we get our point in time count numbers here in Ocean County they capture those numbers in a variety of ways some are counted here at the beat Center the organization that includes the Jon bon jovi Soul Kitchen the Statewide food pantry fulfill and the people's Pantry many services are offered here so when people come in today Joanne Gwin will ask if they're struggling with homelessness and ask them to complete the survey because that survey is completely confidential it's Anonymous but we need that information in order to get the resources to the area those funds will come from the US Department of Housing and Urban Development or HUD as well as from the state and County and it's needed now more than ever because the rate of homelessness Rose in Ocean County by 4% in 2023 to more than 400 people and Statewide rates increased 7 % for a total of more than 10,000 homeless rental prices have gone through the roof since COVID has kind of wound down which has kind of led people who used to have housing to no longer be able to afford it um as an example say 3 years ago an average one bedroom was $1,100 a month now we're seeing them for $15 or $1,600 a month and that increase fixed income hasn't kept up so cost of living allowances don't help that much if they don't keep up with the cost of living.

Soldier On, an organization that works with homeless veterans during the year dedicates all their staff to the count sending them out throughout nine counties to the places where the homeless are likely to gather we know there's encamp encampments in the woods in both places in Ocean and Monmouth County so groups go out to speak with the people staying in those encampments to offer them resources and assistance if they want it um but also just to let them know there are people out there who want to help if you're interested in that in getting that help we can help identify if they're if they're homeless and then I can also try and get them connected to to the code blue sites but identifying the homeless is the hardest part Kevin McKenna works at just believe a code blue shelter in Tom's river that designation means they can house the homeless when temperatures fall to 35° all cold blue shelters in the county open the night before the count to capture as many people as possible but it's only a portion of the homeless the sad fact is people out there in the woods right now that are almost freezing to death there's people out there in the summertime that are dying from heat stroke it's a sad thing they're asking for more support we need a full-time shelter so at least if we could get a shelter here especially in Ocean County we could get a shelter which would have wraparound Services we could begin working with them and get them into permanent housing the count will continue through the rest of the week at a number of different County Outreach locations where the homeless tend to gather it'll take a couple months to sort through all the data so that the federal state and County dollars can be allocated to help this growing population of housing insecure in Toms River I'm Joanna Gagis, NJ Spotlight News.

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