Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop joined city officials from Division of Affordable Housing to tout the launch of a free, consolidated affordable housing portal for residents.
By Daniel Ulloa/Hudson County View
Since Fulop took office, he explained that new policies such as the Inclusionary Zoning Ordinance (IZO) and the Affordable Housing Overlay Zone have resulted in more approved units of affordable housing.
“Today is a natural next step in the progression of making affordable housing more accessible to residents,” Fulop asserted, explaining that the portal will list available units and help residents locate them.
The 24/7 portal will serve as a centralized hub, enabling residents to search and apply for affordable housing units in one convenient location online.
Ward B Councilwoman Mira Prinz-Arey was happy that the portal would allow residents to track units and see where they were in the process.
“We get many calls all the time about how can people find access to affordable housing. We have to be with them every step of the way. This will get them some agency,” she explained.
Prinz-Arey noted that it is a long-term project that has come to fruition.
Housing, Economic Development & Commerce Department Director Annisia Cialone noted the division was created in 2019 to provide guidance on policy and ensure the compliance of the affordable housing created.
Since their inception, the division has created agreements and is managing 1,500 units of affordable housing (one-third are occupied), with more coming online. There are 100 properties in their portfolio and 26 units are currently available in the system.
“This a big deal,” Cialone stated.
She noted before the process was more complicated and decentralized. Now, people can sort units by number of bedrooms, geography, and amenities.
When a new building becomes ready, a lottery for availability will be run and then waiting lists get exhausted.
“This portal will serve as a model throughout the state for increasing transparency, accountability, and access to affordable housing,” Cialone declared.
Affordable Housing Division Director Gia Gazon explained they specialize in handling units in the portal from buildings approved by the planning board. She also noted the Jersey City Housing Authority is different than the Division and manages other units.
She added there are a total of eight people working in the division.
“We got a lot of feedback. We wanted to get it right for the residents of Jersey City who are already stressed out enough looking for affordable housing,” Gazon said.
She said the process of looking for available units was much more difficult in the past in terms of finding who was accepting applications.
“There are no longer going to be any barriers, at least to understanding those opportunities exist,” Gazon explained.
“Everything is right in here for you as an applicant. So many who have walked through these doors have been mystified by the process.”
Gazon explained the portal will send notifications to those who have made profiles in the system when new units become available. They can monitor compliance through the portal.
Overall, officials said the portal will provide centralized listings, a user-friendly interface, real-time updates, as well as support and resources.
Additionally, to ensure all low- and moderate-income households can take full advantage of the new portal, the city will host a series of free workshops and training sessions on how to use the platform.
These public assistance sessions will cover topics such as creating an account, searching for housing, and completing applications.
The following sessions are scheduled at the City Hall Annex, located at 4 Jackson Square:
July 3rd – 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.
July 8th – 2:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.
July 23rd – 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
Affordable housing, and housing are two separate topic. Affordable housing you have a job. Housing is what your income display will be your rent. And it needs to be emphasize, exactly what is the difference.
Mayor Fulop’s vicious anti-tenant policies are designed to force a mass exodus of renters out of affordable rent controlled housing so that once empty the rent controlled buildings can be torn down so big developers can take over. Fulop thinks this is fine since he is requiring alleged “affordable units” in the new buildings. Then he announces that tenants have to “win a lottery” on his new portal to get “affordable housing”. Which will not actually be affordable since he has voided rent control and there is no policing of rent prices.
If we do not mass exodus as Fulop’s policy is pushing us to, us renters will be forced into homelessness, bankruptcy and or death.
Fulop and his corrupt administration has refused to enforce municipal code chapter 260 which is rent control, for more than five years. That alone has caused a housing crisis since rent price abuse and tenant harassment are both rampant and unabated.
Then, as soon as the “quality of life division” was created to allegedly go after bad landlords, his chief henchman Hudnut proceeded to do the opposite. Refused to prosecute landlord harassment since 2019.
Then, once Hudnut became Quality of Life Director, he and Fulop unleashed a scheme they hatched in or before 2018. They figured out that they can abuse “prosecutor discretion” to entirely subvert whole sections of law pertaining to tenant protections. As soon as Hudnut became municipal prosecutor in July 2018 he began a massive ticket fixing scheme. He and Fulop wer immediately reprimanded and told to stop by the NJ attorney general but proceeded to do it anyway then escalated. Jersey City has not enforced building code in 2.5 to 3 years. The court is blatantly fixing housing code summons in sets of 5 to 7 at a time. The building conditions are so bad there are starting to he death conditions such as no heat and gas leaks. Which they still fix tickets en mass anyway. This corruption extends to Hudson County admin such as the Hudson County Sheriff and Hudson county prosecutor who are supposed to investigate corruption and refuse to touch Fulop