Affordable Housing Overhaul Proposed Amid Jersey City Building Boom

"Jersey City, which is undergoing one of the biggest building booms in the nation, will retool its development subsidy program to create more affordable housing and spur creation of market-rate apartments in poorer neighborhoods," reports Ryan Hutchins.

"Pledging to 'reverse decades of development' concentrated almost solely near the Hudson River waterfront, [Mayor Steven] Fulop issued an executive order expanding incentives to many still-gritty parts of the 15-square-mile city. He is also moving to toughen the affordability requirements placed on developers who will use the subsides to build in the hip, higher-cost downtown neighborhoods."

Mayor Fulop also explained that the policy change is intended as a response to much of the city's affordable housing stock being built in low income neighborhoods. The article includes more details on the proposal, which would split the city into four zones, each falling into different tiers of incentives and requirements for affordability.

Tanvi Misra also reported on the proposal, noting that it extends the Payment In Lieu of Taxes (PILOT) policy the city instituted in 2013 [pdf].