Two NJ Assemblyman Want 'One-Way Tickets' For Homeless Put To An End
By David Madden
ATLANTIC CITY, NJ (CBS) -- It's no secret that many towns handle the problem of chronic homelessness by simply moving them somewhere else. Now, a pair of New Jersey legislators wants to make that practice illegal.
Many who call the street home in urban centers are moved there involuntarily, and Republican state assemblyman Chris Brown wants it to stop.
"Certain municipalities are simply putting them on a bus and giving them a one way ticket to Atlantic City and other parts of the state without any due care," Brown says.
A bill he's authored with colleague John Amodeo would make it a misdemeanor to do that. The measure would require a town or county to conduct a social service evaluation before relocating a homeless person--and to warn the town they're moving the person to ahead of time.