NJ STATE BUDGET DIVERTING THE AFFORDABLE HOUSING TRUST FUND IS A BIG BLOW TO HABITAT FOR HUMANITY AND TOWNS LOOKING TO MEET THEIR MOUNT LAUREL OBLIGATIONS
Liz DeCoursey, CEO Greater Middlesex & Morris Habitat for Humanity (GMM Habitat)
The New Jersey State Legislature’s failure to fund the New Jersey Housing Trust Fund (NJAHTF) in its FY26 budget delivered a serious blow to the production of new affordable housing for low- and moderate-income families struggling with high rents and real estate prices in the Garden State.
New Jersey is facing a critical housing crisis with a shortage of more than 200,000 affordable homes for hard working families, and that need is continuing to rise. The NJAHTF was explicitly created to address this shortfall with the production of new affordable housing. At a time when federal funding cuts are looming, the NJ affordable housing trust fund is more critical than ever.
Since 2020, GMM Habitat has been awarded $4.5 million in state funding from the NJAHTF to build 26 new homes. Like many other small developers using the trust fund, we ramped up our efforts and we currently have plans for starting shovel ready projects with more than 60 new affordable homes this year in Middlesex, Morris and Union Counties. These projects are now in jeopardy. Over the next few years, GMM Habitat has plans to build an additional 150 homes that are currently in various stages of planning and pre-development. To illustrate the importance of the trust fund, these 150 new homes would need to leverage an estimated $40 million from the NJAHTF to bring these projects to fruition. The loss of this critical funding is devastating for anyone seeking affordable homeownership in the state.
By eliminating this critical funding, New Jersey legislators failed to prioritize hard working families making 80% or less than the area median income in New Jersey who are struggling to find an affordable place to call home—like the more than 5,000 people who have signed up with GMM Habitat as interested homebuyers. Now in our 40th year, we are resilient and remain deeply committed to our mission, but the people of New Jersey that are most impacted by skyrocketing rents and even higher home prices will suffer the greatest hardships with this disgraceful diversion of the trust fund.
Mayors and town officials should be paying attention, as this is also a big blow to towns looking to meet their Mt. Laurel obligations. Many Habitat for Humanity projects throughout the state are collaborations with municipalities to provide smaller 100% affordable developments to address the towns’ affordable housing obligations. Habitat affiliates and other affordable housing developers rely on the NJAHTF to provide critical gap funding for 100% affordable projects to be financially feasible. Without the trust fund, municipalities may have to reassess the projects and timelines in their Fair Share Plans and may ultimately need to rely on high density market rate developments that provide a small percentage of affordable units to meet their obligations. These large-scale developments have historically faced opposition because of the increased traffic and the high impact to schools, local services and the community’s infrastructure.
We along with other Habitat affiliates and housing advocates are urging Governor Murphy and the legislature to reconvene this summer to do the right thing and uphold their commitments to New Jerseyans to make the state more affordable and restore the trust fund now.
