Housing and Community Development Network of New Jersey

The Housing and Community Development Network of New Jersey is a statewide association of more than 250 affordable housing and community development corporations, individuals and other organizations that support the creation of housing and economic opportunities for low- and moderate-income New Jerseyans.

Since 2004, the National Low-Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC) has been working with hundreds of affordable housing groups across the country to register and mobilize thousands of low income people, helping to raise affordable housing issues and build power. The Pro Bono Partnership, a leading provider of free legal services to nonprofit organizations, will provide information about ways nonprofits can participate in grassroots advocacy and other aspects of the political process without jeopardizing their nonpartisan status under the law.

How to implement a voterization plan – including registration, education, and mobilization – that works for your organization

We know that our impact depends on a growing base of informed and active voters, as well as advocates who know their rights. Join us on July 10 to begin the process of making voter registration, education and mobilization a solid foundation for our growing effectiveness!

Pre-registration for this event is required due to the security procedures at the training site! Please let us know if you are planning on attending as soon as possible by completing the registration form and emailing it to Juanita Howard, at jhoward@hcdnnj.org or faxing it to (862) 252 9993.

The Network, in partnership with JP Morgan Chase, is pleased to offer its first “Leaders in Community Economic Development” Speakers Series. All are invited to join us as we welcome CED movement leaders from NJ and elsewhere. Speakers will share their visions, best practices and innovative strategies, and lead discussions on ways we can remain on the leading edge of CED.

Ellen Brown, COO of the NJ Institute for Social Justice? Ms. Brown, with NJISJ staff members, will take part in a panel discussion on Prisoner Re-entry and its intersection with community economic development and advocacy. The date is Friday Sept 12, time and location (central jersey) TC.

Sept. 12 — Prisoner Re-entry: Intersection with community development and advocacy

The New Jersey Council on Affordable Housing (COAH) will host six regional information sessions and four planning seminars in June and July. The information sessions, targeted to municipal officials, municipal attorneys, and interested persons, will provide an overview of COAH’s revised third round rules, effective June 2, 2008, and the pending amendments, proposed June 16, 2008. The planning seminars, targeted to professional planners, will provide detailed information regarding preparation of a third round plan based on the revised third round rules and will include information on the new application format for the submission of municipal petitions for substantive certification.

Click here for a flyer on the sessions. More information is available on COAH’s website here or by calling Larissa DeGraw at (609) 292-3000 ext 244.

On July 30, the New Jersey Advocacy Network to End Homelessness (NJANEH) is sponsoring the Second Annual Congressional Reception in Washington, D.C. This year’s reception will build on the success of last year’s event and seek to have an even larger impact on federal policy issues affecting homeless individuals and families. This year's Congressional Reception will begin at 1:30 pm and end at 3:30 pm. Please plan to arrive by 1 pm. This year’s event will be held at the Russell Senate Office Building, Room SR-385, Constitution Avenue and First Street, SE, Washington D.C. At least three buses will be chartered to help transport participants to the reception. To register click here

The Network extends a sincere thanks to everyone who participated in Lobby Day 2008 on June 5 in Trenton. The effort was big success. Over 100 people took part, and we know that, together, we spoke to scores of legislators about our issues. In addition, both of the housing bills that were before Assembly committees on June 5, and which the Network supports, advanced in the legislative process.

The foreclosure prevention bill, A2517, passed out of the Assembly Housing and Local Government Committee. It will now go to the Assembly Appropriations Committee. Donna Turner, from AHOME in Millville and Olga Montero, from Brand New Day in Elizabeth, gave moving testimony about the work they are doing in their communities and how that work can benefit from passage of the bill.

Click here for Donna Turner's testimony and here for the testimony of Staci Berger, the Network's director of advocacy..

Click here for a Gannett News story on A2517, and here for an Assembly Democrats’ press release on the bill’s advance.

The housing reform bill, A500, passed the Assembly Appropriations Committee last night and now goes before the full Assembly where a vote is expected on June 16. Many of our members were also at this committee hearing and handed in slips in favor of the bill.

The Housing & Community Development Network of New Jersey released NJ and Its Cities: An Agenda for Urban Transformation at a press conference at the State House on May 7. It is the Network’s second major report on the state’s urban centers and their impact on the rest of the state, following Cities in Transition: New Jersey’s Urban Paradox, released in September 2006.

The report conveys a consistent, comprehensive and positive message: the equitable revitalization of New Jersey’s cities can help restore economic prosperity to the state as a whole. According to the report’s authors, the state’s economic vitality will not be truly restored without equitable renewal of its cities.

The report was co-authored by Diane Sterner, the Network's executive director, and Alan Mallach, a member of the Network's executive board and a former director of Housing and Community Development for Trenton.

Click here for a copy of the press release, here, here and here for news stories about the report, here for an editorial, here for an op-ed by the report's authors, and here for a list of priorities from the report.

Click here for a copy of NJ and Its Cities: An Agenda for Urban Transformation.

Click here for a copy of Cities in Transition: New Jersey’s Urban Paradox.

Assembly passes major housing reform

The Network praises effort, calls on Senate to follow suit

The Housing & Community Development Network of New Jersey applauds the June 16 passage of A500, the watershed housing reform bill, by the state Assembly, and thanks the legislators who saw that the time is now to change the ways the state provides affordable housing opportunities to its lower income residents.

“The Fair Housing Act of over 20 years ago intended to give people the opportunity of finding affordable housing in areas of economic growth,” said Arnold Cohen, the network’s policy coordinator. “This bill today will, at long last, give people the chance to live where the jobs are.”

Cohen said the Network has been and remains a solid supporter of the bill and looks forward to state Senate approval and the governor’s signature. The state Senate is expected to take up S1783, that chamber’s identical version of A500, on Thursday, June 19.

This comprehensive housing reform bill, sponsored by Assembly Speaker Joseph J. Roberts, Assembly Majority Leader Bonnie Watson Coleman and Assemblyman Jerry Green, who is chairman of the Assembly Housing and Local Government Committee, addresses many of the Network’s policy priorities, including establishing a statewide housing planning process, creating a new statewide developer fee, encouraging housing for very low income residents, eliminating RCAs and creating replacement funding for urban housing rehabilitation. Click here to view a fact sheet on this important housing legislation.

“It’s encouraging that our Assembly leadership took an honest and careful look at the situation,” said Diane Sterner, the Network’s executive director. “They sought assistance in trying to understand a big and very complex issue, and they have produced a strong set of measures to begin to deal with the multi-headed problem.”

To get more information about the bill, please contact Arnold Cohen, Network Policy Coordinator, acohen@hcdnnj.org

The Housing & Community Development Network of New Jersey is proud to sponsor, along with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and other organizations, one more event — in Long Branch on June 17 — to inform residents and assist communities threatened by the subprime mortgage foreclosure crisis. We hope you will consider joining us in Long Branch, especially if you were unable to attend our panel discussion in Paterson in May.

If you miss the Paterson event or find the Monmouth County site more accessible, then please join our panel on June 17 for similar discussions about the state of homeownership in New Jersey, and find out about new legislation designed to help with foreclosures. The Long Branch Housing Authority is a co-sponsor for this event, which will include two forums. Join us on June 17, 2008, at Brookdale Community College, Broadway and Third Avenue, Long Branch, NJ, from 9:30 am to noon for the service providers’ forum, and from 5:30 to 7:30 pm for the homeowners and homebuyers’ forum.

For further information contact Brenda Anderson, (732) 222-3747, x108 or banderson@lbhousing.org. Please RSVP no later than June 10, 2008.

At its May 6 meeting, the board of the Council on Affordable Housing approved COAH’s revised Third Round rules, first proposed on December 17, 2007. These rules will go into effect on June 2.

The board also proposed new amendments that will appear in the June 16 New Jersey State Register. All comments on the proposed amendments must be submitted by August 15. COAH will vote the amendments or their revisions into law in October. The Network urges its members to read these amendments and make your concerns known to COAH. The amendments can be viewed at http://www.state.nj.us/dca/coah/june08rules.shtml

The Network is evaluating the impact of the proposed amendments and will be making formal comments. Any ideas from members regarding what the Network should say are welcome. Please e-mail Arnold Cohen, policy coordinator, at acohen@hcdnnj.org.

Click here for the Network position paper on the proposed new rules, and here for instructions on estimating a municipality's affordable housing obligation under the revised rules.

Click here for David Kinsey's report on COAH's origins and expectations: Smart Growth, Housing Needs, and the Future of the Mount Laurel Doctrine.

The release of the National Low Income Housing Coalition’s “Out of Reach 2007-2008,” the annual report documenting the need for affordable housing in every state in the nation, takes on an amplified importance for New Jersey this year, according to the Housing & Community Development Network of New Jersey.

“The NLIHC's report, which once again places New Jersey among the most difficult states in which to find affordable places to live, points up the necessity and the urgency of taking meaningful action,” said Diane Sterner, the Network’s executive director.

The Network, on April 14, released New Jersey-specific data from the national report, as well as analysis and information from its own research, clearly showing that the affordability crisis continues for the state rental market. The Network pointed, nonetheless, to some promising steps state government is taking to address the dire situation.

Click here for a press release on the event, here for a fact sheet on the New Jersey report, and here for detailed charts on the state's rental market and affordability for working families.

Use this toolkit to encourage lawmakers to protect threatened families and communities

The “New Jersey Home Ownership Preservation Act,” aimed at addressing the state’s widening foreclosure crisis, was introduced in March into both the state Senate and the Assembly. Assembly Majority Leader Bonnie Watson Coleman, D-15, and Assemblyman Jerry Green, D-22, introduced the Assembly bill, A2517, on March 13. An identical bill, sponsored by Senators Ronald Rice, D-28, and Sandra Cunningham, D-33, was introduced on March 17 as S1599.

The Network and its allies, New Jersey Citizen Action and the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice, worked with the Senators, Assembly Members and legislative staff in both chambers to craft the legislation. We appreciate their dedication and leadership assisting New Jersey’s threatened families and neighborhoods.

SEND a letter to the Senator(s) and Assembly Members representing your and/or your organization’s area. Click here for a sample letter.

GET more information. Click here to view the bill; here for a summary of the bill; here for a newspaper article on the bill. Click here for a media release on the legislation’s introduction event, and here for a fact sheet on foreclosures in New Jersey.

For more information about the Network’s Foreclosure Prevention campaign, email sberger@hcdnnj.org

TRENTON -- A broad coalition of organizations announced on April 10 the launch of a new campaign to prevent the proposed state budget cuts and return the state to a path of investing in its future.

The Better Choices Budget Campaign, which includes environmental, housing, labor, education and community organizations, called on legislators and Governor Corzine to consider revenue alternatives before passing a budget that cuts deeply into health care, higher education, parks, social services, tenant protection and many other areas crucial to New Jerseyans’ quality of life and ability to advance economically.

The Network is a part of the campaign. For more information, click here, or go to the campaign's website, here.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, in cooperation with non-profit and for-profit organizations, has made available the Affordable Housing Design Advisor -- A tool, resource, idea bank and step-by step guide to design in affordable housing, including the latest ideas regarding green building.

The Housing and Community Development network of new Jersey has written a letter to Governor Jon Corzine, in response to recent statements by the governor that suggest he is backing away from his oft-repeated promise to provide 100,000 affordable housing units in New Jersey by 2014. The Network urges the governor to keep his word and find a way to provide the housing so desperately needed. Click here to read the letter.

YOU CAN HELP! Contact Governor Corzine and urge him not to go back on his promise, but come forward with his overdue plan on how we will build the necessary affordable housing. The Governor needs to hear from all of us that affordable housing in New Jersey is a critical need. The latest census data shows that in New Jersey over 17 percent of homeowners with a mortgage and nearly 25 percent of renters pay over half their income for housing. Please use this sample letter to compose your own letter to the Governor and send a copy to your local newspaper

Contact the Governor by going to www.state.nj.us and following the Contact the Governor prompts. By phone: 609 292-6000. By fax: 609 292-3454. By mail: P.O. Box 001, State House, Trenton, NJ 08625-0001.

Let the Network know (send an e-mail to jpicard@hcdnnj.org ) when you have sent your letter, so we can gauge the impact we are making. Let Gov. Corzine know you are serious about affordable housing and that he should be, too.

Diane Sterner, the Network's founder and Executive Director, is now a regular blogger at NJVoices.com, the new blogging site operated by the Star Ledger and located at http://www.nj.com/njvoices/. Diane was one of a handful of prominent New Jerseyans selected by the newspaper to transcribe opinions and initiate discussion on a wide range of significant issues. Diane concentrates on topics related to housing and community development, writing on eminent domain, urban revitalization, the need for a statewide housing policy and other pertinent topics. Her entries can be viewed at http://blog.nj.com/njv_diane_sterner/. Please visit the site and participate in these worthwhile discussions by adding your comments.

Communities Can Create Local Plans to Build Sustainable Neighborhoods, Advocates Say;

Residents at the Center: A Guide to Community-Based Planning
for Distressed Neighborhoods

Click here to read the full media release about the Network's latest project in association with Rutgers University.

Help make affordable housing a priority for Governor Jon Corzine. Click here to learn about the Homes for New Jersey campaign and find out what you can do!

Restoring Problem Properties: A Guide to New Jersey's Abandoned Property Tools, authored by Alan Mallach, is now available! Click here to download a copy of the book.

The Housing and Community Development Network's mission is to help our members create and preserve long-term affordable housing and build strong communities in New Jersey through capacity building and resource development; education and public policy advocacy; and networking and support services.