Housing
Flood insurance changes go into effect despite bipartisan opposition
The age of flood insurance subsidies may be coming to an end despite cries of protests from lawmakers who fear a monumental shift in how premiums are calculated could force residents out of their longtime homes. The new system, dubbed Risk Rating 2.0 by FEMA, went into effect Friday for individuals who purchase new policies. […]
Homelessness highest in Essex County, annual count finds
Nearly 8,100 people experienced homelessness on a single January night this year in New Jersey, with nearly a quarter of them living in Essex County, according to a new report on the federally mandated annual enumeration known as the Point in Time Count. The numbers seem to show homelessness has decreased from last year, when […]
Billions of dollars in federal rental aid remains stalled in slow-moving states, localities
WASHINGTON — Make it simpler to apply for rental assistance money. Allow landlords to apply on behalf of unresponsive tenants. And consolidate two overlapping federal programs aimed at getting financial help to struggling renters. Those were among the proposals that U.S. House members weighed during a hearing Friday on how to better help states and localities […]
N.J. takes first step in implementing historic housing discrimination law
New Jersey officials are reviewing proposed rules for a new law banning landlords from considering prospective tenants’ criminal histories, one intended to lessen racial discrimination in housing. It’s the first step in implementing what activists have called the strongest housing discrimination law in the country. It’s part of the “ban the box” movement,” a reference […]
Growing chorus of critics want to hit the brakes on N.J. electric heating mandate
A provision in the state’s energy master plan has critics clamoring for change. The Fuel Merchants Association of New Jersey has launched a campaign seeking to head off portions of the state’s energy master plan that would require ubiquitous use of electric heating systems, charging they will cost households several times more than predicted while […]
Courts begin to hear long-stalled eviction cases
New Jersey’s eviction moratorium for middle-income renters ended Wednesday, with courts starting to hear some of the 83,800-plus residential eviction cases landlords have filed since the start of the pandemic. But there is no tidal wave of people losing their homes and getting booted onto the street. Yet. Instead, the process started with settlement conferences. […]
New Jersey’s unemployed fret about federal benefits expiring
Life was turning around for NyKia Jackson. After spending months without a stable roof over her head and crashing on a friend’s couch, Jackson rented an apartment in Pemberton perfect for her and her three kids. She had saved up some money from her jobs at Burger King and as a teacher in a preschool. […]
Supreme Court rejection of eviction ban increases pressure to dole out rental aid money
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court’s rejection of the Biden administration’s last-ditch effort to extend a federal ban on evictions has put hundreds of thousands of American renters at risk of losing their housing — and is increasing pressure on states and localities to get rental assistance dollars distributed faster. In an eight-page majority opinion […]
Groups demand protections for transgender inmates in county jails
The American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey and Garden State Equality on Thursday urged officials running jails in New Jersey’s 21 counties to house inmates by their gender identity, not the gender they were assigned at birth. The civil rights groups, which made their plea in a letter to the state’s jail wardens, noted […]
New anti-eviction program launching in three cities
A new anti-eviction initiative is launching in three cities as the state prepares to roll back pandemic-era eviction protections for some families beginning next week. The program — to be launched in Atlantic City, East Orange, and Trenton – has been in the works since before the coronavirus pandemic caused housing advocates to sound the […]
Thousands of Afghan refugees expected at McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst military base
Thousands of refugees fleeing Taliban rule in Afghanistan will begin arriving this week at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in New Jersey, Biden administration officials said in a press briefing Tuesday afternoon. At least 25,000 refugees will be sheltered at the Burlington County military base and three other facilities — Fort Bliss in Texas, Fort Lee in […]
Newark still tops among New Jersey’s biggest cities
Newark is keeping its crown as New Jersey’s biggest city, surpassing the 300,000 mark in total population for the first time in four decades, according to numbers the U.S. Census Bureau released Thursday. The Brick City saw its citizenry soar 12% in the past decade to 311,549 residents, according to the new figures. Leaders of […]