As someone who has worked in the #affordablehousing industry for a decade, here are some important issues I’d like to raise about @stevenfulop’s Inclusionary Zoning (IZ) ordinance in #JerseyCity:

The exemption in the proposed ordinance for any rezone as part of a master plan update is so broad that it could end up exempting large sections of the City, a basic flaw to begin with.

Fulop’s proposed 30-year affordability period in a city as expensive as #JerseyCity is at least 15 years too short. Developers who say they can’t get financing if it’s longer than 30 years are lying. California requires 50 years.

A 50-year affordability period would allow two generations of a family to accumulate enough wealth to purchase their own home.

Now the buyouts: allowing developers to build off-site is a sneaky way of concentrating poverty in “less desirable” neighborhoods & perpetuating racial & economic segregation. NYC allows this & it’s a disaster with luxury on #UWS & affordable concentrated in areas like Harlem.

Community benefits in lieu of affordable are so broad, it basically nullifies the ordinance. Personally, I could understand a school or transit improvements as a *partial* offset but not a full buyout.

Parking garages in lieu of affordable units is an insult. Car ownership is primarily a luxury of the wealthy and we MUST stop encouraging it in #JerseyCity if we are ever going to seriously tackle climate change, which disproportionately harms the poor.

The ability of the Mayor (w/ advice and consent of Council) or the City Council to waive the requirements is the absolute worst part of this. Imagine a far off world where the mayor and council are developer-friendly. How hard would it be to get an exemption?

Especially in a city, county & state known for corruption, it opens up the City to potential litigation when one developer gets a waiver & another doesn’t. Claims of favoritism & inconsistent application will lead to more lawsuits leaving the taxpayer on the hook for legal costs.

My solutions:

50-year affordability, partial buyouts for schools, transit improvements, and pre-specified community improvements (6th St Embankment, #BergenArches, etc...). Buyouts should correspond with the per unit cost to build in the census tract.

AMI targeting based on census tract. I agree that Downtown JC is at a different growth stage than Greenville so let’s make this ordinance reflect that. Deeper skewing downtown, more workforce housing in Greenville.

Summary: As currently written, the proposed inclusionary zoning ordinance isn’t even worth the paper it’s written on. It gives the false impression of a progressive solution when in reality it perpetuates the problem.

CC: @JoyceWatterman @DeniseRidleyJC @miramira4 @RichardBoggiano @yousefjsaleh @Jermaine4WardF @danielrivera918

@RLavarro @SolomonforJC