100,000 Units of Housing Are Planned in New Jersey
By DAVID W. CHEN
TRENTON, Aug. 9 Acknowledging that housing in New Jersey is
becoming increasingly unaffordable, the Corzine administration says
in a report to be made public on Thursday that it plans to build
100,000 homes and apartments over the next 10 years for poor,
working-class and middle-class residents.
In the state's first attempt at outlining a comprehensive housing
strategy, the 44-page report evaluates the shortcomings of current
housing programs and sets the stage for Gov. Jon S. Corzine to
announce the details of a comprehensive housing program with
specific recommendations and price tags by the end of the year.
"This is the foundation," Susan Bass Levin, the state's commissioner
of community affairs, said about the report, which was prepared by
her department. "It looks at what we've done. It looks at the
challenges in terms of what we need to do."
In scope and in approach, the plan is analogous to one undertaken by
Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg of New York in December 2002 to build or
preserve 65,000 units over five years
Mr. Corzine has frequently said he admires the governing approach of
Mr. Bloomberg, and like him says he intends to emphasize the
shortage of housing not just for the poorest residents, as housing
advocacy groups have historically emphasized, but also for working-
class and middle-class people.
And Ms. Levin said, "We need to provide a full range of housing."
Mr. Corzine has made references to 100,000 units in the past as
early as last year in the governor's race and as recently as June
during an event with the Housing and Community Development Network
of New Jersey here although in general terms.
The report says that New Jersey has actually exceeded a goal, set
four years ago, of building or financing 20,000 units of housing.
But that pace is not fast enough, the report adds, and now, "the gap
between supply and demand of affordable housing is one of New
Jersey's biggest challenges."
In particular, the report says that the costs to create housing,
like land, construction and labor, are increasing far more quickly
than expected, at a time when federal financing for housing has been
stagnant or decreasing. And given the fact that housing and land are
so expensive, "New Jersey has consistently ranked as one of the
least affordable states for rental housing."
Yet New Jersey does not have an effective program to encourage home
ownership among moderate-income residents, the report concludes.
The report also delves into deed-restricted housing, referring to
housing initiatives, like the federal Section 8 program, which
deliberately keep housing units at an artificially low price,
usually for periods of 10 to 30 years.
"The state is currently experiencing its most significant wave of
expiring deed restrictions, resulting in the potential loss of
thousands of units of housing per year," the report warns. "Many of
these units are in healthy real estate markets where affordable
housing is the most difficult and costly to replicate."
One housing advocate who saw an earlier draft of the report, Diane
Sterner, executive director of the Housing and Community Development
Network of New Jersey, said that she found the analysis to be sound
and the approach to be refreshing.
"You're always a little concerned when there's any dilution of
attention of resources from the people who have traditionally had
the greatest housing needs," she cautioned. "But as long as they
figure out the appropriate strategies, and become more comprehensive
in their thinking to promote a mix of income groups, I think it's a
good thing for New Jersey."
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