Elizabeth is nestled on the shore of Newark Bay in Union County, a dense, urban enclave in the heart of the Meadowlands estuary and wetlands. Our neighbors include: the Newark Liberty International Airport, where planes fly by my apartment multiple times a day creating noise nuisance.
Development and Redevelopment
Heat, Air Quality, and Hope: Community Research and Resilience in Elizabeth, NJ
Tuesday, July 30th, 2024New Jersey Needs More Housing, and Municipalities are on the Front Lines
Tuesday, July 30th, 2024Without a safe, stable place to call home, how can people achieve any personal goals?” asked Department of Community Affairs (DCA) Commissioner Jacquelyn Suárez. Her opening remarks kicked off the session, “Housing: What’s Next in New Jersey?” at the 2024 NJ Planning and Redevelopment Conference.
New Jersey’s Housing Landscape: The Mount Laurel Doctrine and the Search for the Missing Middle
Tuesday, July 30th, 2024The rising costs of housing in New Jersey are affecting everyone, especially individuals and households at the lower end of the income spectrum. New Jersey’s unique Mount Laurel doctrine is meant to address the need for housing for lower-income households, but it also indirectly has a major effect on the supply of market-rate multi-family units in the process.
Transit-Oriented Development Is Popular, but Won’t Happen by Itself
Friday, March 15th, 2024New Jersey’s transit towns are experiencing something of a revival in the last decade and a half. This is an important positive development, since transit-oriented development (TOD) advances multiple societal goals.
New Report Digs Deeper into Diversity in Morris and Monmouth Counties
Monday, January 29th, 2024New Jersey is an expensive state, with among the highest housing costs in the country. It is also one of the most segregated states in the nation by both income and race, despite being one of the most racially diverse states overall. A new report from New Jersey Future explores the relationship between the enforcement of housing requirements, housing affordability, and racial and economic diversity, using a comparison between two demographically similar suburban counties—Morris and Monmouth—that followed different trajectories in complying with New Jersey’s affordable housing obligations.
The Future of Housing in New Jersey
Thursday, November 30th, 2023Housing shapes communities while communities shape the quality of life and access to opportunities for each of us. Local officials are on the front lines of housing development, shaping what kind of housing gets built, where it can be constructed, and the local roads and sidewalks residents use to get from their homes to everywhere else.
The NJ State Development and Redevelopment Plan is Being Updated – Where and How Should New Jersey Grow? Add Your Voice!
Thursday, October 12th, 2023The State Planning Commission (SPC) is hosting a series of eight webinars in October to gather input on how to update the New Jersey State Development & Redevelopment Plan. Last adopted in 2001, the State Plan provides a comprehensive framework intended to guide future development, redevelopment, conservation, preservation, and restoration efforts in the state of New Jersey.
With Recession in the Forecast, How Prepared is NJ’s Economy for Upcoming Rain?
Thursday, July 20th, 2023As the world slowly but surely emerges from the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, all of us are evaluating the new parameters of our state and national economies that have experienced stimulus spending, historic inflation, supply chain disruptions, and high interest rates all in quick succession.
Promoting Integration at the Local Level
Thursday, July 20th, 2023While New Jersey is one of the most diverse states in the nation at the macro level, at the local level it is also one of the most segregated. The state has grown more demographically diverse over the last two decades, but most of its individual towns and neighborhoods are either predominantly white or predominantly non-white, with few places occupying the “diverse” range in between.
