"The number of homeless, in New Jersey -- especially women and children -- is unacceptably high and may go even higher as more families face the very real and scary prospect of losing their homes to foreclosure," said Assembly Majority Leader Bonnie Watson Coleman, D-15th of Ewing, a bill sponsor. "State and local governments must work together to provide more funding and better services to provide access to affordable housing and ensure families have another option to living in a shelter or on the street."

"Although it's a great concept, its implementation is problematic because there is a $3 tax being placed on documents filed in the county," [Marie Addiego] said. "With 70,000 people leaving the state of New Jersey because they can't afford to live here, the state has got to work within the confines of the money it already has."

"The idea is to really move people out of homelessness," she said. "One of the things we're trying to do is move people more quickly into a permanent solution."