Fact List

The Faces of Homelessness

• On any given day in Mercer County, at least 1062 people experience homelessness (Point-in-time count, 2009).
• Over the course of a year, more than 2,500 men, women, and children in Mercer County receive services in the homeless system.
• Approximately 20% of homeless children do not attend school regularly (National Center on Family Homelessness).
• Homeless children are three times more likely than other children to have emotional or behavioral problems (National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty).
• Homeless children are twice as likely to experience hunger than non-homeless children (National Center on Family Homelessness).

Housing vs. Income

• New Jersey has been one of the least affordable states in the country for the last nine years. (2000-2009 NLIHC “Out of Reach Reports”)
• The average rent for a two-bedroom apartment in Mercer County is $1,120. (HUD Fair Market Rents 2007)
• A person making minimum wage ($7.15) in New Jersey would have to work 17 hours a day, 7 days a week or 120 hours per week to afford a 2 bedroom apartment in Mercer County.
• Full-time workers earning $8/hour net $1,252 per month. If they spend $1,120 of their income on an average two-bedroom apartment, they are left with only $132 a month for food, clothing, child care, and other basic costs.
• A wage earner should make $44,800 to afford the fair market rent in Mercer County.
• 20% of Mercer households earn less than $25,000 - 14,218 households in the suburbs and 11,801 in Trenton. (2000 Census, Housing and Community Development Network of NJ)
• In 2000, 20% of New Jersey residents earned $25,000 or less per year. (New Jersey State Department of Labor)

Costs of Homelessness

• Government entities spend approximately $75 per night, or about $2,300 a month, to place one family in an area low-budget motel or homeless shelter. (Mercer County Board of Social Services - 2005)
• The Mercer County Board of Social Services alone spends $8.4 million per year on homelessness prevention and another $5.8 million per year for emergency services.
• 40.4% of homeless people visit hospital emergency rooms at least once a year. (American Journal of Public Health)
• Homeless people spend, on average, 36% longer as inpatients than non-homeless people. The average cost of this increase is $2,414 per hospitalization. (New England Journal of Medicine, June 11, 1998)
• A bed in a New Jersey state prison averages $28,000 per year (NJ Department of Corrections)

Housing Need

• 57% of lower income households in Mercer County pay more than the recognized affordability standard of 30% of income for housing. (US CENSUS 2006)