Takes effect on February 1, 2010
On December 30, 2009, the Bergen County Board of Chosen Freeholders approved Resolution 2092. This resolution established the Bergen County Homeless Trust Fund pursuant to P. L. 2009 Chapter 123. The $3 surcharge will begin to be collected for all documents recorded on or after February 1, 2010.
County Executive Dennis McNerney discusses housing options at the Housing, Health and Human Services Center after the Homeless Person's Memorial Day
This is the fourth county to establish a trust fund. The other counties were Passaic, Union and Middlesex. Three other counties are planning votes in January or early February.
The Bergen County Homeless Trust Fund will be used to implement the recently approved Ten Year Plan to End Chronic Homelessness. The plan, according to County Executive Dennis McNerney, focuses on strategies to move individuals into permanent housing. In addition, one of the central components of the plan is Bergen County Housing, Health and Human Services Center (Center). We reported on December 12, 2009 on the housing first strategy used by the Center.
In the first two months of operation, the Center has moved 17 people into permanent housing in its first two months of operation. Director Julia Orlando expects to help 10 other people find homes before the end of the year.
This success indicates the benefits of a comprehensive plan to end homelessness such as the one in Bergen County.
The Trust Fund Act allows counties to create and fund their own programs to end homelessness. The trust funds will provide some of the additional funds necessary to move homeless or formerly homeless individuals toward the goal of permanent affordable housing and self-sufficiency.
Click on the map on the right to view our interactive map that tracks progress in adopting the Trust Fund.
A county is allowed to collect the small sum of $3 for each document that must be filed by law with the county and they have to have developed their own plan to end homelessness that the money will support. The legislation permits counties to establish the funds. It does not require them to establish one.
