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Street homelessness in NJ is up 15% as federal resources disappear
By
Karen Yi
Published Jul 30, 2025
Modified Jul 30, 2025
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By
Karen Yi
Published Jul 30, 2025
Modified Jul 30, 2025
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Homelessness in New Jersey has surged to levels not seen since 2014, with more people living in shelters, motels or on the street this year, according to a nonprofit’s annual head count.
There were about 13,700 homeless people this year, an 8% increase from the year before, according to Monarch Housing Associates, assigned by the state to conduct the annual homeless count.
The tally, conducted in January and released this week, comes as the state braces for the unprecedented gutting of federal programs that help the lowest-income residents afford to eat, pay their rent and get medical care. Advocates for the homeless have warned that the rollbacks in President Donald Trump’s tax and spending bill will only push more people out of their homes amid an urgent demand for more available low- and moderate-income housing.
The federal cuts “threaten to destroy the very infrastructure we rely on to support our most vulnerable neighbors,” Monarch CEO Taiisa Kelly said in a statement accompanying the release of the data.
“This is happening at a time when we are seeing increasing affordability issues, increases in unsheltered homelessness, and more communities criminalizing homelessness,” she said.
Some New Jersey towns, such as Middle Township and Howell, have passed measures that ban sleeping in public and allow them to fine or jail people who don’t comply.
The largest spike came among the unsheltered population, or those who were living on the street, in vacant or abandoned buildings or areas not meant for housing. According to the survey, there was a 14.9% increase in street homelessness this year, accounting for nearly 2,000 individuals.
Homeless people staying in emergency shelters or beds increased 7.4% from 2024, for a total of about 11,500, the report said.
Family homelessness, meanwhile, remained the same, with about 1,400 experiencing homelessness.
Monarch Housing began coordinating the count for New Jersey in 2014, when 13,900 homeless people were counted.
Racial disparities also remained stark: Black people made up nearly half the homeless population despite accounting for just 12% of New Jerseyans.
“The data confirms what our communities have long known: Homelessness is being driven not just by poverty, but by deep structural inequities, including systemic racism and the dramatic shortage of affordable homes,” Michael Callahan, director of New Jersey’s Office of Homelessness Prevention, said in the Monarch statement. “It is a call to action for bolder, better-targeted investment in prevention, housing and justice.”
The headline on this story has been updated to clarify that the figure it references applies specifically to street homelessness.
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new jersey
Karen Yi
Karen Yi covers homelessness and poverty. She joined the WNYC and Gothamist newsroom in 2020. Before that, Karen covered Newark for the Star-Ledger and spent almost a decade working for newspapers in New Jersey and Florida. She grew up in Miami and has a dog named Cashew. Got a tip? Email [email protected] or Signal 917-589-1460.
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