Tag Archives: affordable-housing

Princeton Mayor Addresses Affordable Housing

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By Emmy M.

On July 30, Mayor Mark Freda addressed progress on affordable housing in Princeton, New Jersey, in a press conference with the Princeton Summer Journal.

“So what are we becoming? We’re becoming a town that has million-dollar-plus properties and… a pretty robust affordable housing program,” said Freda, emphasizing the importance of accessible housing for all income levels.

Building affordable housing in New Jersey has historically been difficult due to zoning regulations, but zoning in Princeton has changed significantly. Freda said that the town has put in place affordable housing overlay zones, a type of re-zoning that allows for more high-density housing. 

The municipality adopted its Fourth Round Housing Plan Element and Fair Share Plan in June. According to Freda, Princeton built around 750 affordable units in Round Three. Round Four proposes 276 units to be built in the next ten years. These units will be spread over 13 locations, including three 100 percent affordable sites.

“I think the main issues are what are we doing to help people, whether it’s the immigrant community or people that are just not as well off as others,” said Freda.

The way most of the sites are built is through developers who promise a certain number of affordable units if they’re allowed to build market-rate ones as well. The market-rate apartments offset the lack of profit on the affordable units, Freda said.

While he said the system isn’t ideal for the upkeep of resources like sewage, land capacity, and infrastructure, he did place an emphasis on creating incentives for developers to construct affordable housing. Recent federal budget cuts haven’t stopped the proposals, either. 

Freda explained that the town doesn’t rely on federal funding for affordable housing projects, since it mostly works with private developers or provides the funds itself.

Still, Freda emphasized that the process of building affordable housing in Princeton is far from over. “The average price of a residential home in Princeton last year was $1.4 million,” he said. “Unbelievable.” 

In Princeton, Soaring Prices Push Residents Out

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By Claire B.

One million dollars, $3.4 million, $5.75 million. When turning onto streets in Princeton’s neighborhoods, admiring the houses and the cozy community, it’s hard to imagine that this is what it can cost to live there. According to United States Census data, 53.7 percent of houses in Princeton cost over $1 million.

“The average price of a residential home in Princeton last year was $1.4 million, unbelievable,” Princeton Mayor Mark Freda said in a press conference with the Princeton Summer Journal.  

The median household income in Princeton is $184,113, nearly double the median household income of New Jersey. But 6.8 percent of Princeton’s population lives in poverty, making the need for affordable housing a priority for Freda.

“The list of people for affordable housing units is thousands and thousands of people,” he said.

Once they’ve entered an affordable housing unit, residents continue to work in the hopes that they can save enough money to afford the next level of housing, like renting an apartment or a small townhouse. 

“But that level of housing is almost gone from Princeton, so if people have no place to go, they’re trapped in the affordable housing unit that they’re in,” Freda said. 

People looking to move out of affordable housing tend to move out of Princeton. The historically Black Witherspoon-Jackson neighborhood has lost a significant portion of its community as people leave in search of more affordable housing and a lower cost of living. 

Not only is Princeton struggling to provide more affordable housing, but it’s starting to lose its socioeconomic diversity as the lower middle class moves out of town. 

“We are trying to find a way to address that, but it’s really hard,” said Freda of the challenge of funding affordable housing. “The market works against us, there’s definitely no federal money, not for a few years at least, and there’s not a lot of state money right now either,” Freda said.

It’s not only people below the poverty line who can’t afford houses in Princeton. Even the town’s mayor would have trouble finding a house.

“If I were to buy a house here now, I couldn’t afford to buy a house,” Freda said. “So I’m the mayor, … [and] if I were to buy a house today, I’m guess[ing] I have to rent a place or go somewhere else.”