Published April 7, 2013
By Linda Ocasio

Renters have never had it all that easy in high-priced New Jersey.

Then Hurricane Sandy came along.

Water and wind ruined countless housing units, leaving residents searching for new homes. Five months later, hundreds are still displaced in the tri-state area, living in hotel rooms or doubled up with family members. Replacement housing is months, maybe years, away. Relief is hard to find.

The state of rental housing here has been abysmal for years, and the storm intensified the need. A study by the Enterprise Community Partners found that of the 250,000-plus New Jersey residents who registered for assistance through the Federal Emergency Management Agency, 43 percent were renters. And of those tenants, more than two-thirds earned less than $30,000 a year.

In the latest Out of Reach report, which tracks housing costs across the country, New Jersey was the fourth-most expensive place in the nation to rent a two-bedroom apartment, after Hawaii, New York and California.

No more than 30 percent of a person’s income should be spent on housing. Using that widely accepted measure of affordability, a family in New Jersey would have to earn $51,672 annually to afford the fair market rent of $1,292 for a two-bedroom apartment. The report was released jointly by the National Low Income Housing Coalition and the Housing and Community Development Network of New Jersey.

Diane Sterner was a driving force behind the network since 1990 before leaving as executive director this month. But even as she packed up her office, she was preparing her comments to the state’s plan for $1.8 billion in federal Sandy aid.

“We want a balance of housing, to help renters and to create a better supply of rental housing in New Jersey,” she said.

Sterner’s longtime commitment to housing and community development has been recognized with this year’s Cary Edwards Leadership Award, given annually by NJ Future, a nonprofit research organization for responsible land-use policies. Sterner recently spoke with The Star-Ledger about the challenges for housing post-Sandy. An edited transcript appears below.

What are the challenges for affordable housing post-Sandy?

Sandy was huge and horrific, so many people lost their homes, and many are still displaced. The state is trying to address these issues, and the plan they’ve proposed for the federal money should assist a number of people.

But there are real questions about the state’s capacity to get the money out quickly and efficiently, and questions about what is the fairest way to use the funds. It’s going to be a huge logistical challenge to get the money out to the right places and the right people in a timely way. Some of our discussions with the state have revolved around local capacity as well. Many of the municipalities that were affected have little staff of any kind and no planners. Building capacity to deal with rebuilding after Sandy is going to be a big undertaking.

What is your overall assessment of the state plan for rebuilding?

The plan has some serious shortcomings, including too little focus on assisting renters displaced by Sandy. There’s a huge shortage of rental housing at this point in New Jersey. And funds are needed to provide counseling for homeowners who need help in deciding whether and how to rebuild, and cutting through all the red tape they’re facing. We hope the state’s final plan will address these issues.

How has the network engaged with the state on this issue?

We’ve had several meetings with DCA commissioner Richard Constable about Sandy rebuilding, in particular about the programs the state wants to create with the federal money coming in. We were pleased that the state’s draft plan included ideas we had collected from people in the affected neighborhoods, people in Essex and Hudson counties as well as the Shore. These ideas included a range of repair and production programs for different kinds of housing, from multifamily rental developments to small projects by CDCs or developers.

What is the role of nonprofits in all this?

Nonprofit developers can help to get more projects in the pipeline, and support homeowners in rehabilitating or building new homes. The plan includes a pilot project to acquire and fix abandoned properties, and match them with homebuyers. The plan also includes funds to hire more building inspectors to help overcome the backlog many towns are experiencing in approving plans and building permits.

You helped start the network, and now you’ll be moving on after leading it for 23 years. What inspired you in this field?

I grew up with a deep commitment to social justice and equality, but hadn’t figured out how to put it into practice. I enrolled at Rutgers school of Social Work, and did my first internship with La Casa de Don Pedro as a community organizer. There was huge disinvestment in the North Ward, and we were organizing block associations and responding to concerns about crime and housing. I liked the whole idea that a community organization could work with neighborhood residents to realize their dreams. I found my niche there. An organizer’s role is to help neighborhood people get tools to make the change themselves.

What strategies did you identify as necessary for the network to succeed?

We were focused on building the capacity of community development corporations, developing more resources for them, and doing the policy analysis and advocacy to get better policies in place for them to do their work.

We started out addressing mainly affordable housing, and gradually transitioned to a more holistic focus on overall community development in recognition of the fact that our nonprofit members were working in neighborhoods with other challenges. Our focus expanded to include job creation, advocacy for better schools and resident-driven neighborhood planning among other areas.

What network achievement are you most proud of?

One is the wonderful community of practitioners and organizations we’ve been able to build statewide, including organizations in both the cities and the suburbs that work together and support each other. These organizations have done an amazing job of transforming their communities.

There are two legislative achievements I’m particularly proud of: the creation of the neighborhood revitalization tax credit, which the state Department of Community Affairs administers. It helps neighborhoods create a plan for their future, and gives them start-up capital to build out their dream. The program distributes up to $10 million a year, and each community gets up to $1 million to implement their plan.

The other is the Abandoned Property Rehabilitation Act, which gave CDCs and municipalities a powerful collection of tools to acquire and reuse vacant and underutilized buildings. It’s made it easier for cities like Orange, Newark, Jersey City, Millville and Bridgeton to get title to properties in legal limbo and put them back on the tax rolls and into productive use.

What’s the latest with the Council on Affordable Housing, which monitors compliance with the fair housing laws as defined in the Mount Laurel rulings?

Gov. Christie moved to eliminate COAH by executive order in 2011, but was blocked by the Appellate Division. The state Supreme Court is expected to rule on COAH’s demise this year.

What the governor has done by dismantling COAH is throw the whole Mount Laurel issue back to the courts. That’s not likely to work well. New Jersey needs some kind of centralized statewide entity to administer, monitor and enforce its housing policies. It doesn’t have to be COAH, but we need some entity with the charge and expertise to oversee the state’s housing delivery system.

Keep the conversation going at njvoices.com.

HELP IS HERE
Displaced by Sandy and looking for housing? Check out the state’s Housing Resource Center: NJHRC.gov