Asbury Park, NJ: It is political campaign time again across the country. Voters will be getting political postcards and flyers in their mailboxes soon (if not already). These flyers will likely be a nicely taken photograph of candidates or their team along with their positions on a wide variety of issues. Not everyone who has voted in the past will receive these mailers.
Even prior to the COVID pandemic, homelessness in New Jersey was unfortunately on the rise. As sectors of the economy began to turn in a negative trend, it not only impacted business owners, but it also had an impact (in some ways a grave impact) on the families of the workers in these sectors. As families have found themselves more accustomed to having parents and even high school aged children working multiple jobs simply to make ends meet, the loss of even one job in the household could be devastating.
District 11 Assembly candidate Dominique Faison does not view homelessness as a political issue to use as a bullet point on a postcard…it’s personal for her. “I’ve been homeless with kids,” recalls Faison. “I tried to get help when I needed it…I called the government agencies that are supposed to be there for help…without a reply.” The Green Party candidate describes her feelings of helplessness and abandonment from the social safety nets workers pay into as taxpayers. “You hear about these multimillion dollar programs being funded and benefitting people,” says Faison. “I tried to access these programs for help because I needed it…is the money for the people who need access to the benefits or the bureaucracy tied into it…?” Faison contends the current political office holders are disconnected from issues like this and that her own personal experiences make her more motivated in actually fixing the problem, not running on it.
Faison is seeking to tackle the homelessness issue by using abandoned buildings in areas to be refurbished into living accommodations for the homeless. The Asbury Park resident points out the stigma incorporated with homelessness status fogs over the fact that many school-aged children are homeless.
“The impact on children…their social, mental, and physical health is challenged (putting it mildly) on a daily basis,” Faison points out. “How can we expect homeless children to focus and receive the education they are entitled to when school meals are the easier meals to have given the horrible experience of eating meals in a hotel?”. Faison also believes this is not a good time to eliminate the extra unemployment benefits throughout the state especially with children going back to school. “We need to eliminate the school-to-prison pipeline by helping people while they get their situation in order,” says Faison. “We pay taxes to fund these programs to be there if needed…it’s time for the government we pay for to start working for the people.”