The Star-Ledger
Aug. 18, 2005
Housing Alliance seeks to create more affordable homes in Morris
Nineteen organizations have joined together to form a countywide Housing Alliance in the hopes of increasing the supply of affordable housing in Morris County.
Housing Alliance members include Affordable Harding Corporation, Community Hope Inc., Homeless Solutions, Inc., Housing Partnership for Morris County, Madison Affordable Housing Corp., Morris County Affordable Housing Corp., Morris Habitat for Humanity Inc., NewBridge Services and United Way of Morris County.
The alliance aims to disseminate the message that Morris County needs housing for all, particularly single heads of households, young adults, seniors and people with diabilities. It also plans to showcase housing that is both attractive and affordable.
Ultimately, the alliance-which is facilitated by United Way of Morris County-wants to work with elected officials to bring about policy change and transform the current housing situation.
According to a United Way study, there was a shortfall of more than 10,000 affordable housing units in Morris County in 2000. Dan McGuire, chairman of the Housing Alliance, said this is a problem that affects the entire community.
"The lack of affordable housing combined with a limited transportation system separates job opportunities from the people who are willing to perform them," he said. "Consequences include overcrowded housing, congested roads and unfilled jobs, which results in an unstable tax base."
"This is about people we know. Many county and municipal workers, hospital staff and health aides, teacher's aides and child care workers, store and office clerks, even accountants and computer systems analysts, provide essential services to our community, but they can't afford to live here."
McGuire said home prices have risen more than 57 percent since the third quarter of 2000, reaching a median price of $490,228 in the first half of 2005. A homebuyer would need to earn $127,240 annually to afford a house at this price, assuming a conventional loan and a 10 percent down payment.
 |
||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||
 |
||||||||||||||||||||
