Nearly 2 dozen affordable housing sites coming to Newark
NEWARK, N.J. -- Nearly two dozen new affordable housing sites will soon be coming to New Jersey's largest city.
It's part of a multimillion dollar investment by the city of Newark to help fight the steep rise in rents.
The Aspen Stratford apartments in Newark were known to be crime-ridden. The smashed-out windows and spray-painted mailboxes are reminders of that, but they will soon be transformed thanks to a $20 million revitalization project.
"Every opportunity we get to get more funding, we're going to invest it in making sure we reach our goal of about 6,000 new affordable units in the next couple of years," Newark Mayor Ras Baraka said.
The run-down apartment buildings will make way for 75 new units.
"This investment shows that the people in Newark deserve investment, and that their children deserve a brighter future," said Vivian Cox Fraser, president and CEO of the Urban League of Essex County.
The homes will be made available to low-income residents who make under $32,000 a year.
"Having people have affordable rental means they can save some money and then they come to the Urban League for home ownership," Cox Fraser said.
While many in the community appreciate that the condemned building, which has been an eyesore, won't be there anymore, there are questions about who the affordable housing will be open and available to.
"Affordable to who?" Newark resident Delores Black asked.
Black has lived in Newark for decades but faces eviction at the end of the month. Her affordable housing just isn't affordable.
"You see unemployment income. How do you still say, oh, OK, we're going to charge you $1,569 at a market rate rent?" Black said.
She says it's her hope this investment and others in the pipeline will offer people like her an opportunity to find stability.
"Me being adamant about staying here in Newark is because I want to show that different part. I am that ex-offender, I am that single teen mom, so I beat all of those statistics. So why are we not getting the services? Why are we not provided with those resources after surviving that life?" Black said.
A recent Redfin study found rents in Newark have gone up by a third on average in the last year throughout the city, and the mayor has rolled out nearly two dozen projects like this one to try to counter that rise.