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Yes they do but the situation for children in New Jersey remains bleak at best. The Association for Children of New Jersey released their Kids Count 2008 report. According to the report:

New Jersey children are in some important ways better off than five years ago. More 3- and 4-year-olds are enrolled in high-quality, publicly funded preschool, for example. On some other measures, children are worse off. The proportion with no health insurance has risen, despite increased enrollment in government-subsidized insurance programs.

But the most striking - and troubling - fact evident from the data in this book
is that too little has changed. The rate of child poverty, a contributing factor to
many problems for young people, has not budged. Even as the state’s median
income rose and unemployment dropped, the percentage of children whose parents
lack stable employment and the percentage living below the federal poverty
line stayed about the same. New Jersey families also continue to pay some of the
highest housing costs in the nation: One in four of the state’s renters spent more
than half their income on rent in 2006.

Top read the full report click here. For more information click here.

On May 7, the Housing and Community Development Network released NJ and Its Cities: An Agenda for Urban Transformation, our second major report on the state’s urban centers and their impact on the rest of the state, following Cities in Transition: New Jersey’s Urban Paradox, released in September 2006. The report conveys a consistent, comprehensive and positive message: the equitable revitalization of New Jersey’s cities can help restore economic prosperity to the state as a whole

An Agenda for Urban Transformation recommends steps that the state and local governments can take to boost economic vitality and strategically leverage resources for affordable housing and neighborhood revitalization. The report calls for a new direction in the relationship between the state and its cities, and each city and its neighborhoods. How these new relationships are forged will impact many critical issues facing the state, not only housing and neighborhood revitalization, but also job creation and business growth, land use, public safety, transportation and the environment.

Today is Earth Day 2008. Do you know your carbon footprint? If not click here to find out what is and how you can reduce your footprint starting today.

A few of us are old enough to remember the first Earth Day and the skepticism with which it was received. The unfortunate truth is that we face a crisis far more acute today and the doubters are stronger than ever. The common belief today is the problem is to great for any of us to do anything about it.

Michael Pollan addresses these issues in an article in the NY Times Magazine entitled “Why Bother?“. He comments “Let’s say I do bother, big time. I turn my life upside-down, start biking to work, plant a big garden, turn down the thermostat so low I need the Jimmy Carter signature cardigan, forsake the clothes dryer for a laundry line across the yard, trade in the station wagon for a hybrid, get off the beef, go completely local. I could theoretically do all that, but what would be the point when I know full well that halfway around the world there lives my evil twin, some carbon-footprint doppelgänger in Shanghai or Chongqing who has just bought his first car (Chinese car ownership is where ours was back in 1918), is eager to swallow every bite of meat I forswear and who’s positively itching to replace every last pound of CO2 I’m struggling no longer to emit. So what exactly would I have to show for all my trouble?”

It does seem daunting and an impossible task. However, Mr. Pollan makes a persuasive case that we can in fact make a difference. “For us to wait for legislation or technology to solve the problem of how we’re living our lives suggests we’re not really serious about Read the rest of this entry »

A subject we have posted on previously - Is Suburbia Doomed? - received supporting evidence in a report on Morning Edition this morning. In an article entilted - Home Prices Drop Most in Areas with Long Commute - Kathleen Schalch reported that with falling housing prices “the ones with short commutes are faring better than places with long drives into the city. Some analysts see a pause in what has long been inexorable - urban sprawl.”

The story reports on areas around Washington where prices have fallen an average of 11 percent. However, in areas with commutes greater than an hour prices have fallen even more. Neighborhoods closer to Washington have in some cases had modest increases.

To listen to the story click here.

The following is a portion of the transcript. To read all of the transcript click here.

Home Prices Drop Most in Areas with Long Commute
by Kathleen Schalch

Morning Edition, April 21, 2008 · Economists say home prices are nowhere near hitting bottom. But even in regions that have taken a beating, some neighborhoods remain practically unscathed. And a pattern is emerging as to which neighborhoods those are.

The ones with short commutes are faring better than places with long drives into the city. Some analysts see a pause in what has long been inexorable - urban sprawl.

The Washington, D.C., metropolitan area has been hit hard. Prices tumbled an average of 11 percent in the past year. That’s the big picture. But a look at Ashburn, Va., about 40 miles from the center of town, finds a steeper fall.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Community development, subprime crisis, suburbs, Supportive Housing

On April 13, 2008, the New York Times published on the front page of the real estate section an article entitled “Even Renters Aren’t Safe.” The article noted that “many renters may believe that they have avoided the chaos of the sub-prime loan crisis and the mortgage meltdown simply by renting and not buying, but they may not be as insulated as they think. Buildings with tenants are going into foreclosure as well.”

Although the article focuses primarily on New York City, unfortunately this is a situation that is occurring in New Jersey as well. The impacts of foreclosures on renters were identified in the article as:

Foreclosures can have an impact on tenants in lots of ways, but there are two sets of problems that most will face. The first and most daunting is eviction. The second is a loss of services, which can mean anything from having to fix your own clogged pipes to losing heat in the winter.

To read the full article click here.

Christopher B. Leinberger wrote a fascinating and thought provoking article in the March 2008 issue of The Atlantic entitled “The Next Slum?“. The article’s subtitle is “The subprime crisis is just the tip of the iceberg. Fundamental changes in American life may turn today’s McMansions into tomorrow’s tenements.” Have we reached the end of the suburban dream? If so what are the policy implications for New Jersey?

The article highlights a housing development outside of Charlotte North Carolina where homes were sold for more than $500,000. Currently 81 of the community’s 132 homes are in foreclosure. “Vandals have kicked in doors and stripped the copper wire from vacant houses; drug users and homeless people have furtively moved in. In December, after a stray bullet blasted through her son’s bedroom and into her own, Laurie Talbot, who’d moved to Windy Ridge from New York in 2005, told The Charlotte Observer, “I thought I’d bought a home in Pleasantville. I never imagined in my wildest dreams that stuff like this would happen.’”

Mr. Leinberger makes a strong case that the pendulum may be swinging back toward urban living instead of the suburban dream. This is a highly recommenced article to read. To read the full story click here. Please share your comments. The following are three crucial paragraphs that provide an overview.

The decline of places like Windy Ridge and Franklin Reserve is usually attributed to the subprime-mortgage crisis, with its wave of foreclosures. And the crisis has indeed catalyzed or intensified social problems in many communities. But the story of vacant suburban homes and declining suburban neighborhoods did not begin with the crisis, and will not end with it. A structural change is under way in the housing market - a major shift in the way many Americans want to live and work. It has shaped the current downturn, steering some of the worst problems away from the cities and toward the suburban fringes. And its effects will be felt more strongly, and more broadly, as the years pass. Its ultimate impact on the suburbs, and the cities, will be profound.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: affordable-housing, Community development, suburbs, The Atlantic

This week, the Senate is scheduled to introduce legislation reauthorizing programs within the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).

According to NAEH, this would reauthorize SAMHSA programs through 2013 and includes several provisions important to homeless providers and clients. However, it needs your help today to insure that it is approved. Sarah Kahn from NAEH has asked for providers and interested parties to fax a letter of support to the HELP Committee to encourage them to move the bill. If so, please let Ms. Kahn [Email address: skahn #AT# naeh.org - replace #AT# with @ ] know and if possible email a copy [Email address: blog #AT# endinghomelessnessinnj.org - replace #AT# with @ ] to us.

If you would like to use the attached letter please just plug in your organization’s name in a few spots.

The letter should be faxed twice. Once with attention to the lead majority staffer on the committee, Connie Garner at 202-224-5128; and once with attention to the lead minority staffer, Aaron Bishop at 202-224-6510.

With a busy new year and a short Congressional calendar due to the election, we are hoping the bill moves in January so it has a better chance of passing next year.

The reauthorization will provide significant benefits.

It includes the Services to End Long Term Homelessness Act (SELHA) as a new program within SAMHSA;

Read the rest of this entry »