Tour Displays Affordable Home Options in Paterson

5/4/2012

Today the Housing and Community Development Network of New Jersey’s Passaic County Advocacy Team hosted the third annual Housing Showcase Tour.  The bus tour  featured a variety of quality homes available to people of low and moderate incomes, senior citizens and people with disabilities throughout Paterson.

"As a member of the Network's Passaic County Advocacy Team, we are always seeking opportunities to forge new collaborative efforts," said Irma Gorham, executive director for the Paterson Housing Authority. "This tour for example, which brings together the nonprofit community, city agencies and private developers to reclaim communities through addressing vacant and abandon properties, other important policy initiatives and more recently through our crime prevention efforts."    

Planners, officials, developers and private investors were among the participants who saw both rental and ownership properties, along with several different styles of housing construction to accommodate a range of families and individuals.  Participating in the tour were Senator Nellie Pou (D-35); City of Paterson Mayor Jeffery Jones; Diane Johnson, director for the Housing and Urban Development Newark Field office; and Lanisha Makle, director, Department of Community Development, City of Paterson. The keynote address was provided by Julia Ryan, director of Community Safety Initiatives, Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) of New York.

"I am honored to have been invited to participate, once again, in the Showcase Bus Tour encouraging safer neighborhoods and the revitalizing of communities for our citizens," said Senator Pou. "I commend the Network in its efforts. Programs such as these allow citizens the opportunity to have safe and decent homes they can afford. This is extremely important for our constituents in the City of Paterson and throughout Passaic County."

This year’s Showcase Tour featured the work of several Network member organizations, including the housing and community development sites of Paterson Habitat for Humanity, St. Paul’s Community Development Corporation and the Paterson Housing Authority.  The tour route featured Eva’s Village, the Alpert Group and Paterson Park Development. These sites were selected to show how local organizations foster  housing and economic revitalization by developing homes for a wide array of families at varying incomes. They also display how nonprofits can improve the safety and stability of neighborhoods by protecting and promoting sound community development and redevelopment.

Sponsored by  Investors Savings Bank, the Passaic County Advocacy Team's Housing Showcase Tour is one of many the Network and it’s members are hosting demonstrating that first-rate homes that can exist all over the state for people of all incomes and all types of households. For more information on the Housing and Community Development Network of New Jersey, visit www.hcdnnj.org.

For more information: Nina Arce
Housing & Community Development Network of NJ
(609) 393-3752 x12
[email protected]
Twitter site:  twitter.com/hcdnnj
Facebook site:  facebook.com/hcdnnj