Affordable Housing Needs a Name Change - It Should be Called Workforce Housing

The term affordable housing needs a name change. It should be called workforce housing rather than affordable housing. Why do you ask? Let me explain.

The name workforce aptly applies to the need of creating housing opportunities in NEW JERSEY. And let me say there is a need for this housing. NEW JERSEY is an expensive place to live. According to rentcafe.com the cost of housing either to rent or buy in NEW JERSEY is 38% higher than the national average. As per a northjersey.com article Almost 90% of New Jersey residents consider the cost of housing to be a housing problem. Eight in ten feel it is difficult to find an affordable rental home according to a June 2021 Rutgers-Eagletown Poll. Coupled with real estate taxes for homeowners one must make a lot of money in NEW JERSEY to live comfortably. So, what does that mean if you don’t make six figures? How can you live in NEW JERSEY? Well, it’s a struggle. But NEW JERSEY has one thing to rectify this discrepancy of cost of living. NEW JERSEY has a forward-thinking policy resulting from a landmark court case. Every town in NEW JERSEY must provide their “Fair Share” of affordable housing. How did this evolve?

In 1975 Southern Burlington County N.A.A.C.P. sued Mount Laurel Township on the grounds that the zoning ordinance of Mount Laurel excluded low- and moderate-income people from obtaining housing in the municipality. They won the case. What resulted was the Mount Laurel doctrine, where the court determined that not only Mount Laurel but all municipalities in NEW JERSEY must use their zoning powers in an affirmative manner to provide a realistic opportunity to produce housing affordable to low- and moderate-income households. This led to the NEW JERSEY’s Fair Housing Act which created the state department Council on Affordable Housing better known as COAH. COAH’s role was to determine the number of affordable housing units each of the 565 municipalities was to provide. How were the number of affordable units derived? This is done by calculating a Fair Share. If a municipality completes an affordable housing plan and is certified by COAH, then a developer cannot sue them for not providing affordable housing. I’m not going to get into depth on how the Fair Share is calculated as let me tell you it’s confusing. Furthermore, I will say these calculations are far from perfect and some say it has created a backdoor way for developers to increase density to build their projects and further sprawl. But the intent is there. NEW JERSEY needs affordable housing and the Fair Share Housing Act created this.

So let me get to the point of this article. I hate using the term affordable housing. When the Fair Share Housing Act first began, many residents of the 565 municipalities in NEW JERSEY were outraged that affordable housing would be coming to their town. I’m not saying every municipality and individual, but there were many and usually very outspoken. The fears of increased crime, property value loss, increased school kids and increased taxes were steadfast for many of these communities. In my opinion the term affordable housing has a derogatory connotation. The image of public housing projects came into a lot of objectors minds with the term affordable housing. If these new housing opportunities were termed workforce housing, this may have reduced the objectors. The individuals who are eligible for this housing range from those working minimum wage to local teachers, emergency responders and police officers and other professional jobs. To qualify for this housing, one must be employed and verify income requirements. Thus, the individuals and families who live in this housing are not just sitting around watching tv all day. They are working 9-5 jobs and sometimes working multiple jobs. Another thought is that now that these individuals have new housing opportunities then they may not have to work multiple jobs to provide for their housing. They can spend more time with their families and have a better work life balance. 

Workforce housing is a better way to label these new housing opportunities created by the Fair Housing Act of NEW JERSEY. These families and individuals are looking to provide for their families and themselves while living in new construction intermingled between market rate units often in areas by existing transit. Furthermore, many of these new developments have retail on the ground floor. This could lead to the possibility of residents looking for new job opportunities in the buildings in which they live, thus reducing their commute to work by just going downstairs.

According to Wikipedia is a term that is increasingly used by planners, government, and organizations concerned with housing policy or advocacy. It is gaining cachet with realtors, developers and lenders. Workforce housing can refer to any form of housing, including ownership of single or multi-family homes, as well as occupation of rental units. Workforce housing is generally understood to mean affordable housing for households with earned income that is insufficient to secure quality housing in reasonable proximity to the workplace. The key word is increasingly. The term workforce housing is being more readily used to describe this type of housing.

As mentioned in my previous articles, I grew up in New York City. Few can say that. The only way my family was able to reside in New York City was that I lived in a rent stabilized apartment. This apartment can be considered affordable housing as now my parents' apartment in New York City where they still reside is about ¼ less than what the market rate should be. My parents were hard working. My dad was a geo-technical engineer and my mom a public-school teacher, both retired and living in the apartment in which I was raised in. This rent stabilized apartment is the epitome of workforce housing. As my parents, both professionals, did not devote all their money to housing, thus giving my family opportunities to live comfortably in one of the most expensive places in the world.

Every time I write the term affordable housing, I cringe a bit. Let's start calling this workforce housing and let’s keep creating this workforce housing in New Jersey.