After deadly July heat wave, advocates warn homeless New Jerseyans remain at risk

As unsheltered homelessness rises, advocates say cooling centers alone are not enough to keep people safe.

For Cheryl Dorry, a 57-year-old who sleeps in her car or at campsites in South Jersey, surviving extreme heat often depends on having enough gas to keep the air conditioning running.

“Today, I am literally sitting in my car praying I have enough gas to run the air conditioning for a few minutes,” Dorry told the Jersey Vindicator. “I keep thinking to myself, ‘What about my friends out there?'”

The National Weather Service warned that heat index values would exceed 100 degrees across much of the state during the latest heat wave, urging people without air conditioning to call 211 for information about cooling centers and warning that temperatures inside unattended vehicles could become deadly within minutes.

Dorry praised the state for opening cooling centers but said they address only part of the problem because they typically are not open at night.

“Last year, when I was out there, I spent a great deal of time over there,” she said. “But there was no overnight.”

Instead, Dorry spent hot nights in the woods, trying to make herself presentable for her office job after sleeping in a tent during the heat wave.

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The New Jersey Coalition to End Homelessness (NJCEH) says nine of the 29 people suspected to have died during New Jersey’s deadly July 4 heat wave were experiencing homelessness. Advocates say the deaths show how dangerous extreme heat has become for people living without shelter.

The latest stretch of dangerous heat, with heat index values topping 100 degrees across much of New Jersey, again left many people experiencing homelessness struggling to stay safe, advocates said.

Connie Mercer, CEO of NJCEH, called on Gov. Mikie Sherrill to declare a state of emergency during future heat waves, allow shelters to exceed capacity, fast-track funding for street outreach, and open air-conditioned government buildings for shelter. Mercer said she met with the governor’s office Wednesday to discuss the state’s response.

Mercer said climate change is making extreme weather more common while the number of people experiencing unsheltered homelessness has grown dramatically in recent years, making heat waves increasingly deadly. Data from the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs shows unsheltered homelessness has more than tripled since 2022.

She attributed the increase to “the cost of housing, the cost of housing, the cost of housing, and the cost of everything else.”

“The Sherrill Administration will leave every tool on the table, and each determination will be on the basis of the specific situation at hand,” Maggie Garbarino, a spokesperson for the governor’s office, wrote in an email to The Vindicator. “During the past and current heat wave, the Administration was in constant communication with all 21 county offices of emergency management to ensure their jurisdictions had no unmet or exigent cooling center or sheltering needs.”

Sherrill’s office did not declare a state of emergency during either recent heat wave. The governor’s office also did not identify any changes it made after the July 4 heat wave to better protect people experiencing homelessness, though heat-related illness data from the New Jersey Department of Health suggests the more recent heat wave may have been less severe.

The governor’s office declined to confirm NJCEH’s report that nine people experiencing homelessness died during the July 4 heat wave, directing the Jersey Vindicator to the New Jersey Department of Health. The department did not respond to requests for comment and has not publicly released heat-related death data from the most recent heat wave.