NJ raided over $100M in affordable housing funds. Now it’s putting some money back.

New Jersey is restoring some money to the trust fund for building affordable housing projects after it was stripped of most of its funding during state budget negotiations earlier this year.

The state’s $125 million Affordable Housing Trust Fund was reduced to just $5 million in June, causing an uproar among affordable housing developers and some local politicians who were relying on the funding to address a shortage of low-priced homes in the state.

Now, the NJ Department of Community Affairs told Gothamist that it has restored $45 million to the affordable housing trust fund. The agency said it’s enough to fund 10 to 20 affordable housing projects, and that $10 million of the pot will be reserved for Habitat for Humanity, which builds affordable homes for low- and medium-income families to own.

Read the full article on the Gothamist website HERE.

Liz DeCoursey, CEO of Greater Middlesex & Morris Habitat for Humanity, called the restoration of funding “great news” and a “step in the right direction,” but said it was not enough.

“ I’m looking forward to working with the legislators in November when the new administration comes in and hopefully get [the trust fund] fully restored sooner than later,” she said.

DeCoursey said her organization put dozens of projects on hold due to the lack of affordable housing trust fund dollars.