Yearly Archives: 2016

Representatives from Valley National Bank presented housing counselors from non-profit community development organizations their latest homeowner mortgage product. Pictured from left to right: Staci Berger, president and chief executive officer of the Network; Bernadette Mueller, executive vice president and senior community reinvestment act officer, Valley National Bank; Elizabeth DeLaney, first senior vice president; Victor Urbanovich, senior vice president and residential mortgage loan officer, Valley National Bank; and Sharon Barker, vice president and chief operating officer, the Network

The Housing and Community Development Network of New Jersey (the Network) is launching its first ever Community Development Spotlight series during the month of June. Throughout the state, the Network will partner with member organizations on events that showcase the scope of the work of New Jersey’s nonprofit community development sector

According to the annual, national report released today, New Jersey is the fifth most expensive state to rent a home; only Hawaii, California, New York, and Maryland are less affordable as well as Washington, DC which is counted separately. In order to afford a modest two-bedroom home in the Garden State, a family must earn an hourly wage of $26.52, far more than the state’s average hourly wage of $16.98 or the $8.38 minimum wage.

Deputy Assembly Minority Leader Anthony M. Bucco Thursday joined guest host Steve Lonegan on The Voice of Liberty, a radio program on WNJE-AM. Bucco shared the results of a report he received from the Office of Legislative Services on outmigration.

New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency (HMFA) Executive Director Anthony L. Marchetta recently joined elected state and local officials and community leaders to celebrate the groundbreaking of Keansburg Mixed Income, a project that features an eight-story high-rise complex of 186 rental apartments. The new residences will be affordable and market-rate. The developer is RPM Development LLC located in Montclair.

The spring rain deluge has ended – for now. So it’s time to take a good look outside your house, apartment, condo or wherever you live and drain sources of standing water where mosquitoes breed if you’d like to help avoid a nasty plague of those pesky biting and disease carrying critters this spring and summer.

In its continued effort to meet and assist Sandy-impacted families right in their home communities, the Christie Administration today announced that the 34th Information Session will be held Wednesday, May 11th, 2016, at Metropolitan Mobile Home Park in Moonachie, to provide personal assistance for storm-affected homeowners participating in the Reconstruction, Rehabilitation, Elevation and Mitigation (RREM) Program and LMI Homeowners Rebuilding Program.

The Brick Township Council passed an amendment Tuesday which removes as many unnecessary barriers as possible for people elevating their homes. The amendment to Chapter 245 – Permitted Yard Encroachments, allows for access to staircases with an entry stoop or platform not to exceed a total 100 square feet in area and no further than 5 feet into a required rear yard setback area.

U.S. Senators Bob Menendez, Ranking Member of the Senate Subcommittee on Housing, and Cory Booker applauded the announcement today by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development that the Housing Trust Fund is providing more than $3.7 million to New Jersey to help increase the supply of safe, affordable housing available for the state’s lowest income families. This is the first new source of federal funding in more than four decades dedicated to expanding affordable rental housing opportunities for extremely low income households.

Advocates, service providers, and impacted individuals are united in their frustration in response to Governor Christie’s May 2 conditional veto of legislation that would have modified the state’s Emergency Assistance (EA) program. “The Christie administration has made homelessness in New Jersey far worse – not better,” stated Jeff Wild, executive director of the New Jersey Coalition to End Homelessness. “Tragically, about a year ago, this administration launched a campaign to cut back on EA: the last resort for our most vulnerable adults and children, which serves many thousands of homeless statewide

A critical report on New Jersey’s online municipal tax lien auctions issued Tuesday by the State Commission of Investigation recommended a series of remedies contained in legislation (A2887) introduced by Assemblyman Ron Dancer in February.

The transitional government set up in South Sudan as part of last year’s peace accord has missed a major internationally-set deadline thereby jeopardizing the establishment of a lasting democratic government in the new country according to experts testifying at a Capitol Hill hearing today.

Congressman Frank Pallone, Jr. (NJ-06), senior Democrat on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, visited the Rutgers Solar Farm in Piscataway on the 46th Earth Day to address the need for investments in clean energy in New Jersey and throughout the country. Middlesex Freeholder Charlie Kenny, Piscataway Mayor Brian Wahler and representatives from the League of Conservation Voters and Clean Water Action also attended the event

U.S. Senators Bob Menendez and Cory Booker today announced the awarding of an additional $45,354,517 in Phase 2 funding from the U.S. Treasury’s Hardest Hit Fund (HHF) to assist financially-stressed New Jersey homeowners with mortgage modifications and refinancing to avert foreclosure and stay in their homes. New Jersey, which had the nation’s highest foreclosure rate in 2015, was awarded $69,231,301 in Phase 1 funding in February, for a total of $114,585,818 during this fifth and final round of allocations.

U.S. Senator Bob Menendez, Ranking Member of the Senate Subcommittee on Housing, Transportation, and Community Development, today joined several Senate colleagues at a Capitol Hill news conference to unveil comprehensive legislation that addresses the problem of lead-contaminated water and lead-based paint in New Jersey and across the country, and prioritizes upgrades to our nation’s crumbling water infrastructure, while creating thousands of good paying jobs.

Senate Democrats introduced a broad-based new plan today that strengthens the federal government’s role in water infrastructure investment, lead remediation and drinking water protection, and a provision co-sponsored by U.S. Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) to help school districts across the country test their drinking water for potential lead contamination is a key component

Congressman Frank Pallone, Jr. (NJ-06) applauded the allocation of more than $45 million through the Hardest Hit Fund to the state of New Jersey to help stabilize the housing market and prevent foreclosures. The Hardest Hit Fund was created in 2010 to provide targeted assistance to 18 states and the District of Columbia deemed hardest hit by the economic and housing market downturn.

New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency (HMFA) Executive Director Anthony L. Marchetta joined state and local officials and community leaders earlier this week to celebrate the start of redevelopment for Glassworks at Aberdeen, a master planned community in Monmouth County that will include 110 affordable apartments for working families. Six of the apartments will be set aside for special needs individuals.

Congressman Frank Pallone, Jr. (NJ-06) joined Mayor Wilda Diaz in Perth Amboy to highlight the need for investment in water infrastructure in New Jersey and throughout the country. In February, Pallone introduced, the AQUA Act, which significantly increases water infrastructure funding authorization so local communities can repair and replace their aging water systems to ensure residents have access to clean and safe drinking water. Pallone, the Senior Democrat on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, also advocated for solutions to address lead poisoning in water at a hearing last week.

U.S. Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ), introduced The Transparent Environment in School Testing (TEST) for Lead Act, the Senate companion to Rep. Donald Payne’s (D-NJ) legislation that would require states to help schools test for lead if those states receive federal funding for safe water programs