Homelessness in N.J. is compounded by extreme heat. Advocates are pushing for more cooling centers

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Gabrielle, who struggles with mental health and addiction problems, has been living on the streets of Trenton for the past five years.

“People look right through you like you’re not real, you’re not worthy of just human decency,” she said.

She said she is in survival mode every day, thinking about where her next meal would come from or how she can keep herself safe. On top of all that, she now has to deal with the extreme heat.

“You’re just walking in circles, like where do I go next, you know what I mean, and wanting to just lay down, sit down, be comfortable,” she said. “It’s mind-blowing that some people may have $4 billion, and I might have $2.”

So far this year, there have been 14 days when the temperature reached at least 90 degrees in Mercer County.

Shel Winkley, a meteorologist with Climate Central, Inc., a nonprofit organization in Princeton that analyzes climate data, said the extremely high temperatures arrived earlier this summer compared to past years. A study by the organization found that New Jersey is tied in third place with Masschussetts and New Mexico as the fastest-warming states in the country. “When it’s hot at night, if you don’t have air conditioning and you don’t have a chance for your body to recuperate from the day’s heat and get ready for the next day of heat, that’s where the health risks are an issue,” Winkley said.

That makes people who live on the streets particularly vulnerable.

New Jersey’s homeless population has risen 17% over the past few years. According to the latest Point-In-Time Count of the Homeless coordinated by Monarch Housing Associates, there were 10,267 people without a home in 2023.

Connie Mercer, the CEO of the NJ Coalition to End Homelessness, said the official total does not include people who are “couch surfers,” who move from friend to friend on a continual basis, many times with their children. She said not being able to escape the heat is dreadful.

“Dying from heat is a horrible way to die, horrible, awful with your muscles contracting, with your losing your ability to think,” she said.

Mercer said that housing is so expensive in New Jersey that most people are priced out.

“More and more, the homeless we’re seeing are people who always worked, who always paid their bills, who are good citizens, and then rents went up and up and up, and they just can’t make it anymore,” she said.

While the unhoused population is increasing, the resources available to them are still scant, Mercer said.

She said some Jersey towns spend more money on homeless dogs and cats than homeless people.

“There just has not been the kind of commitment to taking care of the homeless in this state that there has been in other states,” said Mercer.

She said she is concerned about the recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that could allow municipalities to ticket homeless people for sleeping outside.

The State Senate Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee approved a measure to create a Code Red alert program to shelter at-risk individuals during extreme heat and bad air quality events. The bill is under review by the Budget and Appropriations Committee.