Main Title'Realistic Opportunity?' The Distribution of Affordable Housing and Jobs in New Jersey
PublisherNew Jersey Future
Date Created2003-07-01
Subject (Geographic - Hierarchical) Country: United States State: New Jersey County: NA
Subject (Topical)development; land use; smart growth; density; housing; poverty; low income
DescriptionTo achieve the state's goal of an equitable distribution of affordable housing and to ensure that places with large or growing numbers of jobs also offer adequate amounts of housing affordable to all workers, New Jersey needs to overhaul its housing policy. In its separation of workers
from jobs, the present geographic distribution of affordable housing has important implications for New Jersey's economy. Currently, households in need of affordable housing are effectively restricted in their residential choices to a small handful of municipalities, while new job opportunities are being created elsewhere. If the conditions that perpetuate and intensify the need for affordable housing - chronic, concentrated poverty and disappearing jobs - are ever to be ameliorated, it is critical that lower income households have a realistic opportunity to access growing communities with new jobs.
The state could accomplish this by adopting a 'growth share' approach, linking the creation of affordable housing to commercial and market-rate residential development, and by abolishing RCAs, which serve only to further institutionalize the concentration of poverty.
NoteNew Jersey Future is the state's oldest and largest smart growth organization, and a nonprofit, nonpartisan group. We are the only statewide organization founded to achieve
smart growth: growth that contributes to New Jersey's economy without taking away its
last open spaces. New Jersey Future fulfills its mission through original research, policy analysis, public education and advocacy.
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