well the state's latest point in time count recording the number of people experiencing homelessness Statewide shows the real consequences of inflation and rent increases there's a significant uptick in residents who are bouncing between shelters the streets and for those who are able a few couches as senior correspondent Brenda Flanagan reports data out this week puts New Jersey homelessness at a near decade high it's hard it's really hard Bill Thomas is homeless he volunteers at the St John's Soup Kitchen in Newark after a couple of rounds of rehab like many folks with no permanent housing Thomas says a sudden crisis his wife's death started his downward spiral I fell apart I went into a deep depression I got angry started doing drugs after three years I come to St John's and that became my safe haven he's got several applications out for subsidized housing so do many online here for lunch St John serves 300 to 500 meals daily and staff aren't surprised that a recent count shows New Jersey's homeless population spiking to more than ten thousand people according to the latest annual study from Monarch housing Essex County's got the largest share the numbers are growing slowly because the cost of living has gone so expensive anywhere in the Newark region uh food costs housing costs everything says climate rapidly the Monarch point in time homeless count surveyed New Jersey in January and found almost 10 300 homeless people compare that to about 8 000 in 2021 right before New Jersey's eviction moratorium ended the count hit about 8 800 right before covid people's lives can quickly become unstable the person that you're living with can wake up and say you drank all of my milk now get out right and then there's the homeless where you you've been evicted and you're on the street for a week executive director Craig Maynor says the Fulton Street shelters expanding it's capped at 86 beds and today it took delivery of 20 more which will go on a fourth floor expansion oh the biggest increase is absolutely those who are struggling to pay their own rent facing eviction especially after covet eighty percent of the folks staying here have permanent jobs most stay about a month and a half when they leave some reconnect with family lucky ones find permanent housing New Jersey for every 100 households looking for a place to call home there's only 31 units Monarch's Casey vankowski says the survey points out hurdles like Jersey's low 3.7 percent rental vacancy rate available units are just harder to find and cost more up more than 8 percent to 2 700 bucks a month last December affordable housing jerseys short more than 224 thousand for the lowest income families even folks who get their hands on government vouchers find they're not enough we are seeing people sit with vouchers in homeless situations whether it's in shelters or in unsheltered locations and they just don't have the apartment to physically move into the survey found other disparities black folks comprise 12 percent of New Jersey's overall population but 40 37 percent of its homeless Hispanics 21 percent of the population over 24 percent of the homeless white people more than half of the overall population about a quarter of homeless folks and more families are showing up kids in tow says home front Sarah Steward their shelters full she's got a hotline her families in Mercer County that are facing housing instability that are living in a motel that are facing eviction last month over 450 unique families called that hotline she thinks the Monarch survey probably undercounts the problem they try to ease family stress over money with food and diaper pantries to free up funds for rent Bill Thomas keeps waiting for a place to open up I'm not looking for promises I'm just looking for Hope in Newark I'm Brenda Flanagan NJ Spotlight News