Sample Letter #2 to Legislator

[DATE]

The Honorable [FIRST NAME and LAST NAME OF OFFICEHOLDER]

Dear Senator [LAST NAME] or Assemblyman/Assemblywoman [LAST NAME]:

I am one of the unfortunate people in your district who cannot find an affordable, decent place to call home. As the cost of buying a house or renting an apartment in New Jersey skyrockets, more and more of us are finding it impossible to find a home we can afford.

I am lucky to have a job, but it hardly pays enough for me to make ends meet. And even with a half-decent salary, I find myself shut out of the housing market. According to the Homes for New Jersey campaign, families must earn, on average, more than $43,000 a year to pay for a two-bedroom apartment or a starter home, which in most areas now costs more than $200,000. A shocking one-fourth of New Jersey homes are now selling for over $500,000.

Everyone deserves a decent place to live, to raise a family, build a life and enjoy a future.

Middle- and lower-income workers and their families MUST have access to homes they can afford! New Jersey needs a comprehensive housing strategy to help everyone reach that goal.

I am asking you to support the Homes for New Jersey plan to:

Create and preserve 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

Address 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

This is not too much to ask and can be accomplished in a relatively short period of time. But nothing will happen if you don't get involved and put your office squarely behind this effort.

We need you to do more to create decent housing we can afford.

Can I count on you to support all or any of the points outlined in this letter? What is your position on ways to make homes in New Jersey more affordable?

Please help my family stay in New Jersey. We love our state, but it's getting harder and harder to afford a home here.

I look forward to hearing from you.

I hope you will endorse the Homes for New Jersey campaign and work with them to implement their plan as quickly as possible.

Thank you.

Sincerely,

[YOUR NAME]
[ADDRESS and TELEPHONE NUMBER]