coronavirus new jersey

Coronavirus News: Nonprofit battles homelessness in Newark during the COVID-19 crisis

Wednesday, April 22, 2020

How homeless in Jersey are coping without a place to go

Michelle Charlesworth has more on a non-profit organization known as Bridges, which has worked with the city of Newark to get 150 homeless people into their separate rooms so they can either self-isolate or get the medical attention they need.

NEWARK, New Jersey (WABC) -- What happens when shelters do not have space for social distancing? One group in New Jersey is working to give people safe places to live during the coronavirus pandemic.

Bridges is a nonprofit organization with volunteer-driven outreach serving people experiencing homelessness, who have nowhere to go, and have an increased risk of contracting and spreading the COVID-19 virus.

The nonprofit charity is working with the city of Newark to get 150 homeless people into separate rooms so they can either self-isolate or get the medical attention they need.

In the past four weeks, Bridges has seen success in housing homeless people in an old hotel near Newark Airport.

"We are getting people off streets into the Holiday Inn, into hotels," said outreach worker Sharif Amenhotep.

Bridges' goal is to find and help those people that have nowhere to go to self-isolate, and decrease their risk of contracting, and spreading the virus.

"We do not want them wandering the streets possibly spreading COVID-19," said Bridges Executive Director Richard Uniacke.

Newark has more homeless people than any other city in New Jersey.