To the Editor:
Since the 1975 New Jersey Supreme Court case, Southern Burlington NAACP v. Mount Laurel Township, known as the Mount Laurel Decision, New Jersey municipalities have been forced, to one degree or another, to face the question of fair and affordable housing. In many locations, a partnership between county and municipal entities have developed, with participation of federal agencies, allowing for the municipalities to meet their mandated “fair share” burden.
Recently, the Cape May County Democratic Committee hosted a Zoom presentation on affordable housing and homelessness in Cape May County. In order to help establish a baseline of affordable housing units in each of the 16 municipalities that make up our county, we reached out to each of them. The results were telling… Five municipalities provided a response, seven municipalities indicated they had zero affordable housing units and, most disturbingly, four municipalities would not respond to our inquiry. Of the five municipalities that responded with a number of affordable housing units in their individual municipalities, the total only came to 791 units. While this is certainly not an exact survey and we don’t know what lies within the boundaries of the non-respondents, we certainly should be able to agree there is a shortage of affordable housing in Cape May County.
To our north, Atlantic County, Atlantic City and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development have partnered to impact the “Continuum of Care” program. This HUD-funded program is designed to promote communitywide commitment to ending homelessness in Atlantic City by providing funding for the efforts of nonprofit providers and state and local governments, while promoting access to and affecting utilization of mainstream programs by homeless individuals and families. Funds are used for acquisition of real property, up to 100% of the cost of providing permanent housing, structure rehabilitation, leasing and rental costs. It’s a successful program that is putting people into permanent housing, with municipal, county, federal, and nonprofits all working together.
Yet we live in a county with no overnight homeless shelter. The HUD program that Cape May County participates in is tied to the Southern NJ Continuum of Care, along with Camden, Gloucester and Cumberland counties. According to a Cape May County spokesperson, HUD limits the federal funds to housing vouchers only. Meanwhile, the homeless population has grown tremendously over the past few years. The county requires, as do nonprofits, that recipients of their assistance be drug free. This policy reaches a certain percentage of the homeless population. There remains a great number outside this percentage that still need assistance. They are ever present, straining the resources of the wonderful nonprofits that continue to serve, day after day. We need more involvement at the county level, we need more accountability from all municipalities on affordable housing, and we all must be involved to solve these issues. We cannot be satisfied with the status quo. It’s not working.
HARVEY ROACH
Cape May
ED. NOTE: The author is the chair of the Cape May County Regular Democratic Organization’s Leadership Committee.
