30 percent – The maximum percentage of gross income a household should pay to cover its housing costs and still generally be considered living in an affordable housing situation.
1.27 million – The number of households in New Jersey that pay more than this amount for their housing costs. This is 41 […]
Development and Redevelopment
A Fresh Look at Affordable Housing
Wednesday, December 19th, 2007Brownfields: Urban Blight or Redevelopment Opportunity?
Friday, December 7th, 2007Former industrial sites, known as brownfields, are a prominent feature of New Jersey’s urban landscape. More than 10,000 brownfields have been identified in the state.
The Department of Environmental Protection has designated 18 Brownfields Development Areas around the state. Through the program, the department works with local governments and stakeholders […]
NJ Still Has Room to Grow. But Where…and How?
Tuesday, November 20th, 2007A recent study commissioned by the Council on Affordable Housing found that:
Of New Jersey’s 4.98 million acres, 1.24 million (25 percent) are vacant and unconstrained.
These vacant acres have the capacity for 1,169,697 residential housing units and 1.63 billion square feet of non-residential space.
Redevelopment of older housing and former commercial and industrial sites will produce an […]
Updated Census Numbers Deliver Mixed Message to NJ
Tuesday, September 18th, 2007New Jersey has lost its No. 1 status in terms of median household income. The Garden State was the wealthiest in the nation as of the 2000 Census, but Maryland has now surpassed it (and leaped past former No. 2 Connecticut in the process), according to statistics released last week from […]
In Search of a Balance between Property Rights and Redevelopment
Friday, July 27th, 2007Gallenthin v. Paulsboro: In Search of a Balance between Property Rights and Redevelopment Although the recent New Jersey Supreme Court decision in Gallenthin v. Paulsboro was hailed in some quarters as a victory for property rights over the power of eminent domain, the reality is more complicated. The decision did grant a […]
The Link Between Energy Use and Land Use
Tuesday, June 19th, 2007Population density in Hudson County is about 13,000 people per square mile, the highest among New Jersey’s 21 counties and one of the most densely populated counties in the country. At the other end of the spectrum, Hunterdon County’s density is about 300 people per square mile. Union County, which contains […]
Old Cities, New Potential?
Wednesday, May 16th, 2007The Brookings Institution’s Metropolitan Policy Program has examined 376 U.S. cities and characterized 80 of them as “older industrial cities,” based on their substandard performance on a number of economic indicators, including employment growth, number of new business establishments, poverty rate and income level. Large cities making the list include Los […]
South Jersey: A New Smart Growth Frontier?
Saturday, April 7th, 2007The fastest-growing county in New Jersey between 2005 and 2006 was Gloucester, with a 1.8 percent rise in population last year, according to estimates recently released by the Census Bureau. (Gloucester is also the fastest-growing county so far in the 2000s.) Somerset and Cumberland counties also posted one-year growth rates above one percent; the statewide […]
COAH Ruling Ignores today’s Affordable Housing Needs
Thursday, March 15th, 2007Affordable housing is disproportionately concentrated in just a few places in New Jersey. According to Department of Community Affairs (DCA) inventory*, more than half of the state’s affordable housing units are located in just 17 municipalities: Newark, Jersey City, Trenton, Atlantic City, Paterson, Camden, Hoboken, East Orange, Elizabeth, West New York, […]
Redevelopment on the Rise
Tuesday, February 20th, 2007The Housing and Community Development Network of New Jersey’s recent “Cities in Transition” report identified 30 New Jersey cities as showing multiple signs of fiscal and socioeconomic distress. Between 1990 and 1999, these largely built-out cities accounted for only 5.9 percent of residential building permits issued in the state.
Between 2000 […]
