More affordable housing coming

Downtown couple, other new tenants get low-cost mortgages from state

By Ricardo Kaulessar
Hudson Reporter
10/31/2008

In a tough economic climate where it's harder to get (and afford) a mortgage, Jersey City saw eight affordable housing units open last weekend and will see more of the same in the Heights section of the city by the end of the year.

The Franklin Development Group, a company specializing in building mixed-income affordable housing across New Jersey, opened eight units that are 1,600-square-foot townhouses ranging in price from $65,000 to $259,900, with all eight either sold or expected to be sold by next week. What makes the Harriet Tubman Homes unique is that are the first units sold under the New Jersey Housing & Mortgage Finance Agency's (NJHMFA) "CHOICE" affordable housing program, where the owners can get a low-interest mortgage and other financing from the state.

They were built with financing from a variety of public and private sources including the Jersey City Affordable Housing Trust Fund, enabling the units to be priced at a low cost.

Franklin Development also plans to break ground at the end of this year on a 45-unit housing project called Summit Heights, located on Summit Avenue by the Jersey City-Union City border, and next year on Mary Norton Homes, a 23-unit project to be built on Duncan Avenue.

This past weekend, local, state, and federal officials gathered on Oct. 23 at the official opening of the Harriet Tubman Homes (named for the African-American icon) at 268-282 Martin Luther King Jr. Drive.

Homeowners had applied for a spot in a lottery to be eligible to one of the homes. The city had placed advertisements for the homes, which are part of their workforce housing initiative to make sure people who work in Jersey City are able to live here. Also, signs were placed in the windows on the units themselves.

The new residents, who used to pay anywhere from $980 to $1,500 monthly for market-rate rents, will now be making monthly home payments ranging from $780 to $1,100. And they will be able to stay in town and have a bigger stake in their community.

One of those new homeowners is Victor Chavez, an accountant, who lived with wife Emma and their children in an apartment in Downtown Jersey City's Paulus Hook section.

"It's a very rewarding experience to become eligible for a house," Chavez said.

New homes

The homes include a maintenance-free, 100 percent brick exterior; a high-efficiency furnace, a tankless hot water heater, energy systems certified by PSE&G, and low E Glass efficient windows that meet NJ Energy Star standards.

Officials and residents did a walk-around in one of the houses before doing an official opening ceremony and ribbon-cutting.

Attending the opening were officials such as Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy, City Councilwoman Viola Richardson (who represents the area where the homes are located), Jersey City Redevelopment Agency Executive Director Robert Antonicello, Department of Community Affairs Commissioner Joseph V. Doria, Jr., NJHMFA Executive Director Marge Della Vecchia, and members of the development team responsible for the Harriet Tubman Homes.

Paul DeBellis, the head of Franklin Development, who also grew up in Jersey City, thanked officials for working with his company to get the project off the ground.

He cited as a positive the fact that two of the new homeowners previously lived within blocks of the new homes.

Healy said the homes look "great on the inside and outside" and touted that they were built environmentally correctly and allowed the new homeowners to buy "into the American Dream."

Richardson thanked DeBellis for the project but admitted she had reservations at the beginning because of the site of the homes.

"This was supposed to have been my playground that's across from the [Glenn D.] Cunningham Library, where the children could come to play and their parents could sit and watch them," Richardson said. "So for me to give up that piece, these houses had to be something spectacular, and let me just say to you, I'm so happy that it is."

Comments on this story can be sent to rkaulessar@hudsonreporter.com