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NJ raided over $100M in affordable housing funds. Now it’s putting some money back.
By
Mike Hayes
Published Sep 2, 2025
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Visions of America/Joseph Sohm/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
By
Mike Hayes
Published Sep 2, 2025
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New Jersey is restoring some money to the trust fund for building affordable housing projects after it was stripped of most of its funding during state budget negotiations earlier this year.
The state’s $125 million Affordable Housing Trust Fund was reduced to just $5 million in June, causing an uproar among affordable housing developers and some local politicians who were relying on the funding to address a shortage of low-priced homes in the state.
Now, the NJ Department of Community Affairs told Gothamist that it has restored $45 million to the affordable housing trust fund. The agency said it’s enough to fund 10 to 20 affordable housing projects, and that $10 million of the pot will be reserved for Habitat for Humanity, which builds affordable homes for low- and medium-income families to own.
“Creating affordable housing remains one of the department's highest priorities,” said Department of Community Affairs Commissioner Jacquelyn A. Suárez. “Through the Affordable Housing Trust Fund, we are investing in projects that not only create safe and stable homes, but also also strengthen communities.”
A spokesperson for the agency declined to comment on where specifically in the state budget the $45 million was being pulled from and put back into the trust fund. Last month, Gothamist reported that a project spearheaded by Habitat for Humanity to build 12 affordable homes in Old Bridge, NJ was being put on hold due to a lack of available funding from the trust fund. State Sen. Owen Henry, the former mayor of Old Bridge, called the cuts to the trust fund “asinine” and called on the legislature to restore the funding.
While it’s only slightly more than a third of the original trust fund amount, the funding should be welcome news to housing advocates, developers, and municipal leaders – all stakeholders in New Jersey’s effort to ramp up its next round of mandated affordable housing development. After a new state law was passed in 2024 to address the housing crisis, lawmakers have put forth a plan to build more than 80,000 low priced homes over the next 10 years.
The Department of Community Affairs is restarting the trust fund application process after putting it on hold when the money was cut from the budget. The agency said requests for proposal will open on Sept. 5. Developers will have until Oct. 3 to apply on the department’s website. The funding limit per project is $3 million and projects that previously applied for a grant will need to resubmit their applications, the agency said.
Liz DeCoursey, CEO of Greater Middlesex & Morris Habitat for Humanity, called the restoration of funding “great news” and a “step in the right direction,” but said it was not enough.
“ I'm looking forward to working with the legislators in November when the new administration comes in and hopefully get [the trust fund] fully restored sooner than later,” she said.
DeCoursey said her organization put dozens of projects on hold due to the lack of affordable housing trust fund dollars.
DeCoursey said she’ll definitely be reapplying for her projects. But added that projects that exceed the $3 million dollar grant limit – like the one in Old Bridge that has a shortfall of over $4 million – may have to be done in phases.
Housing advocates around the state criticized Gov. Phil Murphy’s administration over lawmakers’ decision to gut the trust fund. The administration previously defended the move, saying that the shift in funding would be used to fund other housing programs like down payment assistance for first time home buyers.
Matthew Hersh, vice president of policy and advocacy at the nonprofit Housing and Community Development Network of New Jersey, echoed DeCoursey, saying his organization would continue to fight to get the full $125 million back in the fund.
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new jersey
Mike Hayes
Mike Hayes covers equity and access to opportunity in New Jersey. He joined WNYC and Gothamist in 2023. Before that, he worked as a freelance journalist writing about policing and criminal justice. He has written for ProPublica, CNN, HuffPost, BuzzFeed News and The Appeal. He is also the author of the book, “The Secret Files: Bill De Blasio, The NYPD, and the Broken Promises of Police Reform.” In 2019, he was a finalist for the Livingston Award for Young Journalists.
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