DCA Neighborhood Stabilization Program Funding Rehabilitates Properties in Jersey City
Thirteen Affordable Housing Units Are Completed
JERSEY CITY, N.J. – August 3, 2011 – (RealEstateRama) — New Jersey Department of Community Affairs (DCA) Commissioner Lori Grifa today joined State Senator Sandra B. Cunningham, Mayor Jerramiah T. Healy, and other officials at the ribbon cutting for 13 affordable housing units in Jersey City that received $1 million in Neighborhood Stabilization Program funds through the DCA. The grant is paid for with federal funds intended to stabilize neighborhoods hard hit by home foreclosures.
“This is the largest DCA-funded Neighborhood Stabilization Program project to be completed in the state. These rehabilitated units will help Jersey City’s Bergen Hill community avoid the neighborhood blight that often results from property foreclosures and will provide people with quality affordable housing,” said Commissioner Grifa. “I commend the organizations involved in this tremendous project and applaud the efficiency with which they worked.”
As a component of the federal Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008, the Neighborhood Stabilization Program is specifically intended to assist neighborhoods that are experiencing the negative effects of the foreclosure crisis and that are statistically at high risk of continued market deterioration. In 2009, the DCA secured $51,470,620 from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to provide funds to municipalities, counties and developers to acquire and rehabilitate foreclosed properties that might otherwise become sources of abandonment and blight. The DCA awarded 35 grants.
Jersey City received a $1.7 million grant from the program. The City awarded $1 million to the non-profit group Community Asset Preservation Alliance of Jersey City to acquire and rehabilitate the 13 rental units in two buildings located at 117-119 Bostwick Avenue in Jersey City. The Urban League of Jersey City and Alliance Construction also assisted on the project.
The City used $200,000 to demolish deteriorated properties in the Bergen Hill neighborhood and will use the remaining $500,000 of the grant toward the acquisition of an apartment building in the community slated for eventual rehabilitation.
All properties assisted with Neighborhood Stabilization Program funding must be completely renovated. Most of the properties have new appliances, new roofs, new flooring, and new paint finishes. All the units include energy efficiency improvements to reduce utility costs for the tenants.
For more information about the Neighborhood Stabilization Program, log on to http://www.nj.gov/dca/divisions/dhcr/offices/nspguide.html on the DCA website.
To see a list of Neighborhood Stabilization Program awards and project descriptions, go to: http://www.nj.gov/dca/divisions/dhcr/offices/docs/nsp/nsp_award_projects.pdf
Contact:
Hollie Gilroy
Lisa Ryan, Office of Communications
(609) 292-6055
