August 12, 2013
Henry Kent-Smith was quoted in the Home News Tribune article, "No Easy Fix To Create Affordable Rentals." While the full text can be found in the August 12, 2013, issue of Home News Tribune, a synopsis is noted below.
According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition, there is a shortage of 1,889,044 available and affordable homes for extremely low income renters in the state of New Jersey.
Henry Kent-Smith, an advocate for affordable housing, has concerns that towns are zoning out affordable renting housing due to concerns that school population will increase and high-density development will lead to roads overwhelmed with traffic.
Citing a Bloustein School of Public Policy study, Kent-Smith pointed out that large subdivisions of rentals actually attract mostly single adults and couples without children.
He added that municipalities must address their need for affordable housing so they can fully understand their value. Uncertainty of requirements from the Christie administration has left towns wondering if creating additional units is really necessary.
"The only leverage a developer of rental housing has to try to build apartments in municipalities opposed to density is the Mt Laurel builder remedy threat," he said. "Clearly Gov. Christie's opposition to affordable housing has emboldened municipal resistance to rental housing. The governor's policy actually hurts New Jersey's economy by limiting affordable, work-force housing."
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