This land that is being developed had ONE house and garage
on it before it was torn down about a year ago, and it only
needed some renovating.

What makes her think that the happiest families are the families that own their own homes? It's exactly that type of simpleton mind set by government officials that caused the previous housing bubble in the first place. If the councilwoman had any smarts she would have at least qualified her statement by saying the happiest families are the families that can afford to own their own homes.

Yay more Bayonne Boxes!

Quote:

I have always hated that style.

While I'm glad to see this type of development, does everything built in JC have to be those ugly, suburban "snout houses" turned on end? There is a lot that can be done with affordable housing, without breaking the budget - scroll down to the Catholic Charities project here http://gizmodo.com/7-smart-new-afford ... aking-cities-s-1488019323 And even if there is no avoiding designing around cars or the idea that the be-all-and-end-all is the suburban single family house (in the middle of a city), at least do something that contributes to the streetscape http://housedesignphoto.blogspot.com/ ... -house-design-images.html

Michaelangelo Conte/The Jersey Journal

Officials broke ground today at the site of 10 condominiums n Jersey City?s Greenville section aimed at providing affordable housing through a project organized by a state agency, a community bank and a city developer.

?I love when we see this kind of development in our city,? said state Sen. Sandra B. Cunningham at the groundbreaking at Gates Avenue and Old Bergen Road. ?The best residents are those who own. The happiest families are those who own.?

The project being built by V. Gupta and Co. is financed 50/50 by New Jersey Community Bank and the New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Financing Agency, a state agency, said NJ Community Bank Chairman and CEO Robert D. O?Donnell.

The units are to be sold at below market prices and qualified buyers will receive 30 year mortgages at a lower than market rate with no down payment through the HMFA. The HMFA will then pay off the community bank and pay $50,000 per unit to the developer as a means of making a below market cost sale possible, O?Donnell said.

If the buyer sells the residence within five years, any profits go to the HMFA. If the buyer sells after five years, the buyer keeps any profits, O?Donnell said.

?It gives access to beautiful housing to people of the Jersey City area,? O?Donnell said.

At the groundbreaking, HMFA Executive Director Anthony Marchetta said ?This is one of our smaller projects but one of our favorites.? The agency ?is dedicated to increasing the availability of and accessibility to safe, decent and affordable housing to families in New Jersey.?

Roger Gupta said the residences will sell for $185,500 to $200,000 and construction will take about one year and cost about $2 million.

?We think that this is an incredible opportunity for people to own their own home,? said Gupta, adding that his family bought the property prior to the recession and under normal market conditions it likely would have taken several more years to make its development feasible.

Also attending the event were Assemblyman Jason O?Donnell and Jersey City council members.