Jersey City Together Public Action On Housing and Education - April 27, 2026 | Christ the King Roman Catholic Church
- New Jersey Together
- 22 hours ago
- 3 min read
On April 27, 2026, Jersey City Together held a successful public action with Mayor James Solomon, to push him to take concrete action to improve e
ducation and housing in Jersey City, at Christ the King Catholic Church.
More than 410 residents filled the church (well beyond its 280-seat capacity) demonstrating how dedicated our leaders are towards improving education, housing and everything else necessary. As a result, Mayor Solomon publicly agreed to all six of our demands.
Education Funding: Facing a $250 million budget gap and ongoing school funding losses, we identified enforcement of the employer payroll tax as a critical revenue source. Strengthening enforcement will help stabilize funding for Jersey City’s public schools as state aid decreases.
Question 1 we asked for enforcement
“Mr. Mayor, will you use all of the administrative tools that the City has to proactively and vigorously enforce the Employer Payroll Tax to support our public schools? Yes or no?”
The Mayor answered yes!
Question 2 we asked for transparency
“Mr. Mayor, will your administration provide regular, public reporting of Employer Payroll Tax collections, administrative expenditures, Trust Fund balances, and amounts transferred to the Jersey City Public Schools? Yes or no?”
The Mayor answered yes!
Housing Justice: Through our door knocking campaign we had conversations with over 200 families, we identified patterns of displacement driven by bad-acting landlords pushing tenants out of rent-controlled units. We secured commitments from the Mayor to enforce existing housing laws, hold landlords accountable, and protect tenants from neglect and unjustified rent increases.
Question 1 we asked for enforcement
“Mr. Mayor, right now, some landlords in Jersey City treat code violations as a minor cost of doing business while tenants live in unsafe conditions. For the sake of families in this room, will you commit today to use every measure and tool in your power to maximize enforcement and penalties of code violations until they are resolved? Yes or No?
The Mayor answered yes!
Question 2 we asked for transparency
“Mr. Mayor, will you commit to use your power to require the Office of Landlord Tenant Relations to mandate that any application for rent increase via capital improvements be filed before the work or rent increase is done? Would you also require that no rent increase be permitted if there are outstanding violations? Yes or no?”
The Mayor answered yes!
Bayfront Development: We also advanced the long-standing effort to build affordable housing at Bayfront, land reclaimed through earlier organizing. Now referred to as Secret land by Jersey City Together top leaders, we called on the mayor to prioritize this project, that will produce 3,000 units of affordable housing, with the governor, including advocating to raise the current $500,000 affordable housing cap to move development forward.
Question 1 we asked for commitment
“Mr. Mayor, will you commit to making Bayfront your administration’s number one development priority? Yes or no?”
The Mayor answered yes!
Question 2 we asked for an agreement “When you meet with the Governor, will you directly ask for a waiver of the cap on affordable housing subsidies to ensure Bayfront and similar projects can move forward at the scale our community needs? Yes or no?”
The Mayor answered yes!
Public Business in Public: This action reflected our commitment to doing public business in public. Leaders across our institutions researched key issues and developed concrete solutions, engaging the mayor not just with problems, but with clear proposals rooted in community experience.
Building Power for the Public Good: We also recognized the partnership of public officials, including Senators Angela McKnight and Raj Mukherji, who have engaged with community leaders on these issues.
This action demonstrated what effective democracy looks like: organized people engaging power with discipline, clarity, and solutions. Jersey City Together continues to build the relationships and leadership necessary to win concrete change—and to do public business in public for the public good.
Media Coverage
The JC Times previewed the action:
The three main pieces following the action are
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