HOBOKEN, N.J. (CBSNewYork) — Shelters in Hudson County, New Jersey are overflowing with homeless people in need.
And as CBS2’s Meg Baker reported, you may be surprised to see where those who cannot find a bed have built homes.
The hills of Hoboken have million-dollar views, but those who live there barely have a lone dollar to their names. Hidden on a hill above Hoboken is a tent city spanning Jersey City and Union City, where close to 50 homeless have found a home.
“So when you come to a place where you don’t have family at all, you have to find a place to live,” said Orestes Lopez, who is homeless. “So I guess that’s why they go there.”
On some nights, Lopez stays in what he calls a camp – a makeshift shack of scraps of wood, mattresses and tree branches.
Looking up from Hoboken, CBS2 counted more than 10 shanties – now exposed among the bare trees in the woods.
“It’s tough. It’s tough. It’s tough,” Lopez said. “In winter, forget about it.”
Residents of the tent city either cross the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail in Hoboken and hike up the hill, or hop over a barrier on Patterson Plank Road where a backpack with fresh clothes was seen Wednesday.
Union City police Chief Robert Molinari said the homeless encampments date back 20 years or more. The city cleared them out in the 1990s, only to have them rebuild a week later.
“This is their home. This is what they have,” Molinari said. “And it’s not an easy place to get into. It’s a rather dangerous place.”
Police from Union City, Hoboken, and Jersey City said they do encourage the homeless on the hill to go to warming shelters in the winter, but few want to leave their setup. CBS2 asked about that with a few men exiting their camp through a hole in the fence.
“Only live in there,” one man said. “No go shelter.”
With no electricity, many do frequent the shelters for food, or cook with coals at their camp.
Hoboken residents in some new apartments have a view of the shanties – separated by the light rail line. They want the bottles and other trash spewing down the hill to be cleaned up.
“The trash is an eyesore,” said Chris Spingle of Hoboken.
“The view – it’s dirty; sometimes they can get loud and kind of rowdy, I think in the summer when population sort of swells a little bit, and there have been some incidents where they are drunk around the light rail,” added Molly Peters of Hoboken.
Police do keep a watch, Molinari said.
“Once a year, there is an incident and the police have to come,” he said. “It’s more the police go down there and offer services to them.”
Some of the men who spoke to CBS2 said they find day jobs such as construction, while others panhandle. But that money is still not enough even to afford low-income housing, they said.
So with no other option, the cities let them stay on the cliff.
Shelters in Hoboken, Jersey City, and Union City house more than 50 people a night – offering showers, laundry, and job programs. But they are full.