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Inside South Jersey’s 1st ever emergency shelter to address homelessness
A groundbreaking ceremony occurred Wednesday in South Jersey for Burlington County’s first-ever emergency shelter to address housing insecurity and homelessness.
WESTAMPTON, NJ - Burlington County is building its first-ever emergency shelter to house up to 60 adult men and women experiencing housing insecurity in Westampton.
The $18 million facility will be built behind the Human Services building on Woodlane Road. A county spokesperson said state and federal grants are covering about $7 million of the project so far.
During a groundbreaking ceremony on Wednesday afternoon, Commissioner Director Felicia Hopson said, "This will improve safety in every Burlington County community, including this one in Westampton."
County officials said data from Monarch Housing in January revealed that 1,005 individuals were homeless in Burlington County, speaking to the need for a shelter in the community.
The emergency shelter will be a two-story 33,792 square-foot building with 24-hour security and medical triage. It is not expected to have an impact on local police, fire or emergency services, according to the county.
Many living in Westampton said they were not aware of the emergency shelter project until about a week and a half ago, despite Hopson telling FOX 29 the project has been on public record for about two years.
"They are sliding it right under the rug to us and slapping us in our faces," said Audrey Kerstetter. "We are going to get everybody from every area of Burlington County taken to our location and nobody has a game plan of how to get them back once they get here."
"I’m not sure where those residents were but this has been in the works for the past two years, so I don’t know how else to keep them informed if they’re not coming to meetings and they’re not checking the minutes on our website because they are published," said Hopson. "Most homeless people are the ones at risk, not our residents. So, it is my hope that they will find it in their hearts to understand why this is such a need and why we’ve selected this location."
Shelter clients will not be required to leave during the day and each will be paired with a caseworker to help guide them into more permanent housing.
"No one in Westampton lacks compassion for homeless people, they need to get help, but is this the right location? Within a half a mile to a mile radius, there’s a number of schools. There are preschools within a block or two away and elementary schools," said Lynne Knauss. "A number of people proposed there’s a vacated campus of Burlington County College in Pemberton, multiple buildings. Could those be rehabilitated and provide a number of services?"
As an emergency shelter, the site may be used by the Office of Emergency Management and the American Red Cross if sheltering is required during a disaster.
Construction is expected to start very soon and take between 16–20 months to complete.