Toms River public debate intensifies as mayor outlines DCA-backed hotel placements and housing trust funds for people living in woods

Toms River residents urged the township council to preserve warming shelters and other services for people living outdoors as Mayor Daniel Roderick outlined a plan to place some people temporarily in hotels while state and county agencies work to secure permanent housing.

"We support having these Code Blue sites," said Dan Valentine, a lifelong Toms River resident who works with nonprofit providers and Code Blue sites, inviting the mayor and council to visit a local site at Refuge House of Prayer. "Let us help people in need. We care about our homeless neighbors."

Roderick responded that the administration has been coordinating with the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs (DCA) and said the township secured "approximately $3 to $4,000,000" for temporary housing placements and identified about "$9,000,000 in an affordable housing trust fund" that has not previously been spent. "If we don't spend it, the state will seize it all next year," he said. He added that the DCA would work with providers to place people in housing and to provide clinical and social services where needed.

The mayor stressed limits on the township's capacity. "Toms River cannot afford to place all of the county's homeless," he said, calling for the county to consider alternative statewide locations for county-run shelters while his administration works to place people now living in woods into hotels and long-term housing.

Several public speakers disputed that approach, characterizing closures of local warming sites and restrictions on nonprofit operations as dangerous for people living outdoors. "To take Code Blue away at this time of year is unconscionable," said Scott Susich, who urged immediate shelter access rather than delay. Other speakers said many who need help are not drug users or mentally ill and described local residents who lost housing because of economic pressures.

Council members and other officials acknowledged the tension between emergency sheltering and longer-term housing needs. One council member said the town must first determine whether assistance will prioritize Toms River residents or serve anyone brought to the community, noting the town's role as the county seat. Council members also asked the county to shoulder more responsibility for countywide placements.

What happens next: the mayor said his administration and the DCA are developing the placement plan and working with an affordable housing special master and county partners. Council members did not take formal action at the meeting; public comment closed after multiple residents spoke. The town’s next procedural step, according to the mayor, is to finalize arrangements with the DCA and pursue the housing-trust spending plan before the state can reclaim funds.