Housing
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 […]
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 […]