Monarch Housing’s Blog!

The Herald News has published a follow up article on the homeless crisis in the City of Passaic. The second article focuses on the need for a shelter. The solution to Forys’ homelessness in permanent housing not a shelter. A shelter would not be the solution as Mary “Forys prefers Main Avenue to a shelter, which she considers too dangerous.” The editorial correctly holds Passaic to “the moral responsibility of working with community activists to provide safe shelter for people with no place to go.” We agree but again the solution is permanent, affordable and supportive housing!

We provide an excerpt to the editorial. To read the latest full article click here.

The face of the homeless on Main Avenue - Editorial
Thursday, December 6, 2007, HERALD NEWS EDITORIAL

At 53, Mary Forys has fallen through the holes in the society’s safety net. She’s landed hard on the streets of Passaic, where she hustles money for food. At night, she curls up behind a garbage can to sleep, a throwaway person in a disposable culture.

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Tags: City of Passaic, Ending Homelessness, Mary-Forys, Passaic-County

On Sunday the Herald News printed an article entitled “Life on streets is desperate choice“. This details the story of Mary Forys homelessness and that of even more in Passaic City and County. The artcile states “The homeless woman is a familiar part of the Main Avenue landscape. Business owners call her “Smelly Mary” for her unpleasant odor. Police have arrested the 53-year-old woman more than a dozen times for loitering, panhandling and drug use. Mayor Samuel Rivera said he’s received calls about her soiling herself in the post office. Some passers-by give her dollar bills or cigarettes, others simply yell obscenities.”

The more we read the more she sounds like the Million Dollar Murray of Passaic City.

Click here to watch the video.

This is a portion of the article. To read the full article click here.

Life on streets is desperate choice
Sunday, December 2, 2007

By MEREDITH MANDELL, HERALD NEWS

Red tape suffocating some

PASSAIC — Mary Forys sleeps curled up in a ball behind a garbage can to shield her from the wind.

The homeless woman is a familiar part of the Main Avenue landscape. Business owners call her “Smelly Mary” for her unpleasant odor. Police have arrested the 53-year-old woman more than a dozen times for loitering, panhandling and drug use. Mayor Samuel Rivera said he’s received calls about her soiling herself in the post office. Some passers-by give her dollar bills or cigarettes, others simply yell obscenities.

But most ignore her as they walk by talking on their cell phones, running to catch buses or picking up children at school.

Mary is just one of an estimated 1,300 homeless people on any given day in Passaic County and among the 349 chronically homeless, according to the county’s Point in Time survey, part of a one-day effort to get an accurate snapshot of homelessness in the region. 
 
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Tags: Ending Homelessness, Mary-Forys, Passaic