Housing
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 […]
Affordable housing key for N.J. to prevent homelessness spike, official says
With some experts predicting the pandemic could increase homelessness nationally worse than the Great Recession did in 2008, the head of New Jersey’s Office of Homelessness Prevention says the state must create more affordable housing to keep people off streets here. “Housing is health care. We have to create a pipeline of affordable housing, because […]
N.J. courts adjourning some eviction cases for 60 days
On the heels of major changes to the state’s eviction moratorium, eviction cases in New Jersey courts will be adjourned while applications for rental assistance are processed. The New Jersey Judiciary said Thursday the adjudications will allow time for parties to resolve the cases using rental relief funds, if possible. In order for the eviction […]
As eviction moratoriums change, who is protected in N.J.?
Moratoriums and executive orders put in place to keep renters in their homes during the coronavirus pandemic are expiring across the country while health concerns and high unemployment rates continue. But even as the Centers for Disease Control reinstates a 60-day eviction ban for parts of the country — a ban President Joe Biden has […]
‘There was no concern for my life’: Families losing homes despite federal eviction moratorium
WASHINGTON — The national moratorium on evictions, as well as rental assistance programs, weren’t enough protection to keep Katrina Chism and her family in their suburban Atlanta home when money got tight. Chism was laid off twice during the COVID-19 pandemic, and when she fell behind on rent, she faced an initial eviction notice. She was […]
Fraction of N.J.’s rental assistance fund has been distributed, state says
The state’s biggest rent relief program aimed at helping New Jersey tenants on the brink of financial crisis has helped just 11% of applicants so far, according to the state agency overseeing the fund. Of the 113,000 struggling renters who applied for the second phase of New Jersey’s COVID-19 Emergency Rental Assistance Program, 13,489 households […]
Delayed report on count of N.J.’s homeless due soon
Advocates who track and serve New Jersey’s homeless population are expected to release results within the next few weeks of their annual count of unhoused people, a normally imprecise count advocates agree will be even more unreliable this year because of the coronavirus pandemic. Advocates have long said the federally mandated count doesn’t paint a true […]