The Housing Crisis and Affordable Housing in Trenton

With a poverty rate of 27.6%, it is clear that many of Trenton’s residents are struggling economically and may be facing homelessness. We looked into the city’s housing crisis and the initiative being taken to provide families with affordable housing.
With nearly 3,000 abandoned houses, city officials have started to move towards efforts of rebuilding these homes and renovating them for future sales. In 2015, during Governor Chris Christie’s time in office, plans were announced for the Urban Blight Reduction Program. This program entails that 400-500 abandoned homes in the city of Trenton would be demolished and rebuilt with the intent of reducing crime that often goes on within these properties. In addition, the program focuses on revitalizing city blocks- making them less of an eyesore and more appealing to future homeowners.
As Trenton250 states, there is not a desirable housing market within Trenton and there is insufficient affordable housing options for Trenton residents. Eviction causes another kind of concern as most residents of the city are renters. With such a high rent population, these neighborhoods have often been seen as unsafe, causing families to leave and the overall quality to decrease because of lack of funds.
The city has some affordable housing already in place. There are two types of affordable housing- deed-restricted, and housing for those residents who are of low-income. Legally, deed-restricted housing is not to be sold or rented to residents making 80% or less of the area median income (Trenton250).
We reached out to local organizations to see what they’re goal was in helping with Trenton’s housing crisis. One of the organizations were talked to was HomeFront. Their goal is to help those suffering from homelessness and provide them with the resources to overcome the difficulties they are facing. The organization has on-campus housing that can house up to 38 families facing hardships. They can provide childcare to allow parents to go into the workforce while not spending a large portion of their income on care for their children. With a wide variety of other services from job training to healing, HomeFront is a great resource for those who are in need.
We also spoke with the Trenton Housing Authority to find out more about affordable housing within the city. There are limits set on income in order for someone to qualify for the affordable housing, the owner cannot exceed the low-income established by the Department of Housing and Urban Development. It is a very lengthy process for families to apply for this housing. They first complete a pre-application where they answer several questions just to be put on the waiting list for public housing. The applicants than go through the full-application phase where they will complete an application to assure they meet the requirements for public housing. Adults also must sit through an interview process and then their case will be reviewed for housing.
The Department of Housing and Urban Development declares that affordable housing should be made available to families with low (income less than 50% of median family income) or moderate (income between 50%-80% of median family income). People who are struggling can also apply for a Section 8 Voucher. The voucher is made available to people who have an income of 50% below the median family median income. The voucher can be used to pay the balance of the rent where the tenant is paying more than 30% on their income toward their rent. In order to use a Section 8 voucher the unit’s rent must be within the standards set forth by the Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher and the unit must also meet the expectations in quality standards. We went onto the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s website and at this current time the application for Section 8 Vouchers is closed. However; it could take up to a year and a half on a waiting list before even receiving the voucher. Proving not only is the process a lengthy one, but at times not even available to those in need.
While affordable housing is a clear need in the Trenton area, it is clear that it is not a reality. The poverty rate shows that while families are in dire need of help at this time, the help is not available causing a continuation of living in hardship with no way out. Without a home it is hard to keep a job and without a job it is hard to make the money needed to pay rent. It is a vicious cycle that continues to plague the community. Without a kick start to help these families, a change will not occur.

Works Cited
Administrator. “Apply For Public Housing.” THA NJ, www.tha-nj.org/apply-for-public-housing.
“Housing.” HomeFront, www.homefrontnj.org/housing/.
Mdiaz. The Official Web Site for The State of New Jersey, www.nj.gov/dca/divisions/dhcr/offices/section8hcv.html.
“Overall Housing.” Trenton 250 - Home, www.trenton250.org/goals-objectives/overall-housing?filterOnly=initiatives&filterFor=cj6cnlqiq00t5ytgz252tsbk9&topics=all&search=.
“What Is Section 8? What Are Housing Choice Vouchers?” Affordable Housing Online, affordablehousingonline.com/section-8-housing.
You Are Being Redirected..., njbmagazine.com/njb-news-now/governor-christie-announces-trenton-public-safety-initiatives-bolster-revitalization/.

The state of New Jersey prevails as one of the most expensive places to live in the United States, due to hefty property taxes and other expenditures. The high cost of living in New Jersey remains troublesome for those who cannot afford it and an advantage for those who are able to. With its charming appearance, advanced hospitals, and world-renowned restaurants, New Jersey’s standard and quality of life are worth the cost for millions of Americans. Adversely, for those who struggle to afford the cost of living in New Jersey it seems to be a constant nightmare, especially for families that are established in low-income communities. Affordable housing has become one of the most convoluted issues in New Jersey, and it is mostly due to the fact that since 1999, the state's Council on Affordable Housing failed to regulate or enforce any affordable housing mandates. In 2015, the state Supreme Court ruled that judges will take over the regulation of affordable housing.
Joe Atmonavage from NJ Advance Media states, “some say the state is lacking 80,000 affordable housing units and housing advocates say it's lacking 200,000 units, everyone agrees: New Jersey does not have enough affordable housing” (NJ.com). Creating affordable housing in New Jersey seems to be a sustained issue and concern, in which many government and state officials avoid regarding conversation.
In a recent speech, at the State League of Municipalities convention in Atlantic City, Governor Phil Murphy recounted on improving the state’s economy in the past year. He delivered his speech in a confident manner, particularly while addressing the state unemployment figures that have been released. The figures showed that New Jersey’s jobless rate dropped last month to 4.1 percent, the lowest it’s been since 2001. Governor Murphy stated, “I got elected to fix our economy, and I spend most of my time doing that — or trying to do that — as governor” (njspotlight.com).
Although Murphy’s past year in office has helped New Jersey’s overall economic growth, affordable housing remains the state’s leading concern. Unfortunately, during the speech, Murphy strayed away from talking about affordable housing and directed his attention on other problems affecting the state. He focused his discussion on Trenton and and “emphasized things like gender-pay equity, gun reform, and clean energy production” instead of tackling affordable housing head-on. He claimed that working to improve these things, as well as sparking job growth and smart development, will help alleviate expensive property taxes that many residents struggle to afford. Although this statement may be true, our state officials need to be taking direct action to help improve the cost of homes for the citizens of New Jersey because it is a priority. The prolonged action, especially in low income areas such as Trenton, has been put on the back burner for many years and ultimately has gone to courts.
In the state of New Jersey, the process of determining municipal affordable-housing obligations is in the Fair Housing Act, signed in 1985 and amended in 2008. An agency called the Council on Affordable Housing (COAH) was established and stated that all municipalities have a constitutional obligation to provide their fair share of homes affordable to those of limited means. Unfortunately, this council is no longer in existence, so therefore affordable housing has not been very accessible in lower-income areas.

Work Cited
Atmonavage, Joseph, and NJ Advance Media. “N.J. Needs to Build 155,000 Affordable Housing Units. No One Can Agree on How or Where.” NJ.com, NJ.com, 27 July 2018, www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2018/07/affordable_housing_new_jersey_fair_share_housing_c.html.
Jersey Journal Guest Columnist. “Gentrification and the Crippling of the Black Community in Jersey City | Opinion.” NJ.com, NJ.com, 23 June 2018, www.nj.com/opinion/index.ssf/2018/06/gentrification_and_the_cripping_of_the_black_commu.html.
Mueller, Karin Price, and NJ Advance Media. “The High Cost of Jersey: Why We Leave.” NJ.com, NJ.com, 4 Mar. 2015, www.nj.com/inside-jersey/index.ssf/2015/03/the_high_cost_of_jersey_why_we_go.html.
“Murphy's Speech Recounts Policy Achievements in First Year in Office.” Cultural Barriers Make It Harder for Immigrants to Access Healthcare - NJ Spotlight, www.njspotlight.com/stories/18/11/15/murphys-speech-recounts-policy-achievements-in-first-year-in-office/.we_go.html.

The Trenton Housing authority is set to be the recipient of $1.4 million from the Federal Home Loan Bank System. This money is to be used for the Page Homes projects to create 77 new units of apartments.