Housing in Jersey City
Tenants' Rights During COVID-19: Know Your Rights & Discussion (Hudson County)
Because of COVID-19, more families are worried about falling behind on their rent.
Join Jersey City Together & The Waterfront Project (a non-profit, legal services organization) as attorneys share key rights renters should know about during this time. They will take place on:
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Saturday, November 7th from 10:30-11:30am
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Monday, November 14th from 7-8pm
We will also offer an opportunity for people to share in small groups how this moment is impacting them and those they care about. Register below for the Zoom workshops.
Since our launch in 2016, Jersey City Together leaders have worked diligently to preserve and build more housing that will be affordable for working families at a range of incomes. This has included work to hold specific landlords accountable, advocacy to strengthen rent control laws & their enforcement, and work to expose and address conditions in the Holland Gardens public housing complex.
We have also worked to expand opportunities for new affordable housing. This has included new, affordable housing that will be built in Bergen-Lafayette, as well as a campaign to increase affordability significantly on the Bayfront & Canal Crossing sites (Bayfront now has the potential to create 1,400 to 2,800 new units of affordable housing).
Yet, we also know that Jersey City is in a housing crisis.
Based on public data, in Jersey City -- a city of approximately 100,000 households:
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40,000+ households (42.5% of the city & half of all renters) are currently cost-burdened, spending 30+% of their gross income on housing (See page 25 of Jersey City's report to HUD in 2015 & the most recent data from HUD released in August 2019 here);
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22,000+ households are "severely cost-burdened," spending 50+% of their gross income on housing (See page 25 of Jersey City's report to HUD & the most recent data from HUD released in August 2019 here);
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Jersey City residents have been taken to court for eviction more than 20,000 times in the last 4 years, almost all without legal representation (this is based on a conservative estimate, looking at Hudson County housing court records; these are accessible by visiting the Hudson County Housing Court); 75+% of evictions can be prevented if tenants have access to legal counsel (See report in New York City).
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Conditions in older, Jersey City Housing Authority apartments are often unhealthy with stories of mold, lack of security, and more; the JCHA's own study conservatively estimates they will need to spend $80+ million to maintain current public housing over the next ten years.
To address a crisis of this scale, we will need to strengthen our team. Learn more below & get involved by talking to your neighbors and those you care about!
To see what counts as affordable housing in Hudson County in 2019 based on income & household size, see the guidelines published on NJHMFA's website.