New Jersey
Trenton, NJ 08618
609-393-3752
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
State Leaders & "Homes for New Jersey" Coalition
Push for Affordable Homes
Advocates Call for State Action
TRENTON, N.J. -- Homes for New Jersey, a nonpartisan coalition of more than 200 organizations, today unveiled a multiyear campaign to convince state lawmakers to adopt policies that will produce and preserve 100,000 homes over the next 10 years.
Branding New Jersey's high housing costs as a major election issue, prominent advocates, including former New Jersey Governor Jim Florio, and business, religious, union and community leaders, officially kicked off their campaign for action to coincide with this year's races for governor and General Assembly.
Homes for New Jersey is pressing current lawmakers, the two major gubernatorial candidates and those running for the Legislature to make a commitment to the creation and preservation of homes that New Jerseyans can afford.
"What has been brewing for years has now boiled over," said Timothy Touhey, Homes for New Jersey Chairman. "Advocates have been warning us that rising housing costs have been eating away at lower-income New Jerseyans, forcing many of them into the streets or substandard housing. But now the dynamic has changed. It's no longer just the impoverished, the vulnerable and the working poor. Middle-class New Jersey is also feeling the sting."
Touhey noted that Homes for New Jersey is meeting with both Republican and Democratic legislators and candidates to obtain their commitments for more affordable housing.
"We have met with the two major gubernatorial candidates - Senator Corzine and Mayor Forrester - and many legislators and legislative candidates in this upcoming election," Touhey said.
Senator Corzine has announced a housing policy and Mayor Forrester has indicated that he will announce his housing plan in the near future.
"Our message to both candidates has been the same: Policymakers must make the creation and preservation of more affordable housing a priority," said Touhey. "They must talk about it in their campaigns and provide some real solutions."
Diane Sterner, Homes for New Jersey Steering Committee member and Executive Director of the Housing and Community Development Network of New Jersey, has been urging lawmakers to act for nearly two decades.
"Our worst fears are now realized," said Sterner. "A tragedy that the poor have known for far too long has spread to touch practically everyone. The American Dream of a decent home is becoming more and more elusive for a growing number of New Jerseyans."
According to Homes for New Jersey, families and individuals must make more than $42,000 per year to afford a decent, two-bedroom apartment in the state. So-called starter homes, in almost every corner of New Jersey, are selling for $200,000 to $300,000. One-fifth of all homes are going for $500,000 or more.
"We cannot afford it and our children and grandchildren are going to face prices that are even more insane," Sterner said.
Former New Jersey Governor Jim Florio said he hopes to help convince others that affordable housing must be addressed.
"We must act now or we run the risk of a future where many of our neighbors, our children and grandchildren will not live in New Jersey because they will not be able to afford a good home," said Florio. "Nothing is more basic than food, clothing and shelter, and each of us has an obligation to ensure that future generations who want to call New Jersey home have a fair and real chance to find one here."
Homes for New Jersey is calling on State lawmakers to adopt a far-reaching housing plan that:
- Creates and preserves 100,000 more homes that New Jerseyans can afford by
- Offering incentives for higher-density, mixed-income homes in our cities and towns
- Creating new ways to help people stay in their homes
- Replacing the homes of lower-income residents who are displaced by redevelopment
- Addresses the housing needs of very low-income New Jerseyans by
- Making sure current housing plans provide opportunities for very low-income families
- Maintaining or increasing the current level of funding for the State's rental assistance program
In addition to Touhey, Sterner and Florio, the following business, religious, union and community leaders spoke at today's press conference: Fred DeSanti, Vice President of External Affairs at PSE&G, the Rev. Dr. William Howard of Bethany Baptist Church in Newark, Joyce Powell, President of the New Jersey Education Association, Keith Jones, President of the NAACP, James Ragan, Vice President of BNY Mortgage LLC, and Etta Denk, Vice President of the Community Development Group at JPMorgan Chase.
"Young adults must live with their parents because they cannot afford a home of their own," Sterner noted. "Families do not have the luxury of one parent staying at home with the children because both must work to make ends meet. Single parents struggle every single day. Our elderly neighbors watch their homes crumble because they can no longer afford the upkeep and the property taxes. The stories are becoming more heart-wrenching and sadly, more commonplace."
For further information, please contact
Annu Mangat at 609-393-3752 x 25; 609-815-0749 (Mobile/cell).