By: Yuritza Arroyo
IMAGE: GOOGLE
Mayor Steven M. Fulop joins U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Marcia L. Fudge and Regional Administrator Alicka-Ampry Samuel to announce the successful efforts in addressing the homelessness crisis through a Housing First approach.
According to officials, since joining the HUD's House America program in 2021, Jersey City has provided quality housing to nearly 1,500 families in need, coupled with an increase of 3,500 affordable housing units added to the City's pipeline.
Jersey City has become a leader in the preservation and expansion of affordable housing and promoting homeownership with our most recent efforts ranging from creating Jersey City's first affordable housing ordinance and adding more affordability requirements with the Overlay Program to acquiring the first new 40-unit public housing building in over 80 years and increasing on-site affordability to the largest mixed-income community in the region at Bayfront.
"Affordability has been my priority from the start, especially as Jersey City is experiencing an explosive renaissance like no other in the region, and the Housing America Program has helped build upon our efforts to ensure our neediest families and residents are afforded the quality housing they deserve, regardless of their income," said Mayor Fulop.
This exciting development follows the recent announcement by U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Marcia L. Fudge, highlighting all entities under House America have housed more than 100,000 households experiencing homelessness and added over 40,000 affordable housing units into development.
"Everyone deserves a safe, stable place to call home. Through House America, I'm proud to see that communities have stepped up to get people off the streets and into homes," said Secretary Fudge.
"The Biden-Harris Administration is deploying a Housing First approach, using American Rescue Plan funding and other resources to help individuals find a place to call home. We will continue to work to house America until we end homelessness as we know it."
House America encouraged communities to deploy a historic level of federal resources to address homelessness.
In particular, House America's 105 communities received a boost of funding through the American Rescue Plan Act to expand permanent housing opportunities - including more than 20,000 Emergency Housing Vouchers and over $1.5 billion HOME-ARP from HUD, as well as over $65 billion in State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds from the U.S. Department of the Treasury — that sparked renewed momentum and more significant deployment of available resources, including CARES Act and annual appropriations, to create permanent housing solutions.
HUD organized leaders from 105 communities across 31 states and territories and the District of Columbia to join House America and provided technical assistance to reach these goals.
Launched in September 2021 by Secretary Fudge in partnership with the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH), House America is an all-hands-on-deck effort to address the nation's homelessness crisis.
Secretary Fudge created the national partnership to engage local, tribal, and state leaders across the country to set and achieve specific goals to rehouse people experiencing homelessness and make more permanent affordable, and supportive housing.
She challenged state and local leaders to collectively place at least 100,000 households experiencing homelessness into permanent housing and add at least 20,000 new units of deeply affordable and supportive housing into their development pipelines by December.