Monarch Housing’s Blog!

We are pleased to be able publish along with the mainstream media, an important op-ed by the two co-chairs as well as the Executive Director of Homes for New Jersey on the affordable housing crisis in our state. It is a thoughtful article that we strongly encourage you to read and share.

Affordable housing only a matter of leadership

By Bruce Davidson, Timothy Touhey and Alison Badgett

In a recent public comment, Gov. Jon S. Corzine indicated that he believes New Jersey does not have adequate funding resources to achieve his campaign pledge of preserving or producing 100,000 affordable homes over 10 years. This should be a matter of great concern to the voters, legislators, and public officials of New Jersey. It is very troubling to us and the membership organizations of Homes for New Jersey.

New Jersey is experiencing a housing affordability crisis — our most vulnerable populations face enormous barriers to adequate housing; the workforce that fuels our economy increasingly cannot afford to live here; while those who develop housing are significantly hindered in production by unnecessary barriers and structural inefficiencies.

After an extensive study, the Brookings Institution called New Jersey’s lack of affordable housing the greatest threat to our state’s future, concluding that New Jersey faces the most difficult housing challenge of any state in the nation. The census report released last week found New Jersey’s median housing costs the second highest in the nation.

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The New Jersey Network (NJN) last night broadcasted a  five minute video on the need for New Jersey to develop an affordable housing plan to achieve the goal of 100,000 affordable units

Homes for New Jersey Executive Director Alison Badgett and Paige Carlson-Heim, the Managing Director of the Housing & Community Development Network of New Jersey spoke of the need for affordable housing. To watch the video click here. It will only be available until next Monday.

To read the Housing & Community Development Network of New Jersey’s (HCDNNJ) letter to Governor Jon Corzine on this issue click here. 

What can you do to help? The HCDNNJ is encouraging everyone to contact Governor Corzine and urge him not to go back on his promise, but come forward with his overdue plan on how we will build the necessary affordable housing. The Governor needs to hear from all of us that affordable housing in New Jersey is a critical need. The latest census data shows that in New Jersey over 17 percent of homeowners with a mortgage and nearly 25 percent of renters pay over half their income for housing. Please use this sample letter to compose your own letter to the Governor and send a copy to your local newspaper

 Contact the Governor by going to www.state.nj.us and following the Contact the Governor prompts. By phone: 609 292-6000. By fax: 609 292-3454. By mail: P.O. Box 001, State House, Trenton, NJ 08625-0001.

 Let the Network know (send an e-mail to jpicard [Email address: jpicard #AT# hcdnnj.org - replace #AT# with @ ] ) when you have sent your letter, so we can gauge the impact we are making. Let Gov. Corzine know you are serious about affordable housing and that he should be, too.

Governor Jon Corzine promised when he was running for office that he was committed to the Homes for New Jersey goal of 100,000 new affordable housing units.

In today’s Star-Ledger’s article entitled “Corzine: Cost could hinder affordable housing effort” the following two paragraphs sum up his current position.

“Nearly halfway into his term, the Democratic governor has yet to deliver a housing plan, conceding the potential price tag — about $300 million over 10 years — is a big roadblock during tough budget times.

We’re in the midst of responding to the legal challenges associated with our housing policy … and we are reworking a number of incentives, trying to find ways to get additional resources and stimulate the plan on the table,” the governor said Friday. “Unfortunately, I don’t know if we would be able to afford it.”

The question should not be can we afford it but can we afford to continue to do nothing. With the deteriorating economy and the recent Census data from the American Community Survey, New Jersey is in a major affordability crisis.

According to the American Community Survey, “The median monthly housing costs for mortgaged owners was $2,130, nonmortgaged owners $787, and renters $974. Forty-five percent of owners with mortgages, 28 percent of owners without mortgages, and 50 percent of renters in New Jersey spent 30 percent or more of household income on housing.”

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