Preserving Multifamily Rental Housing: Improving Financial Options in New Jersey: Fid-Bau Portal

Preserving Multifamily Rental Housing: Improving Financial Options in New Jersey

NJ' privately owned multifamily rental housing plays a critical role in providing affordable housing throughout the state. Small entrepreneurs operating small and medium size rental buildings in urban areas struggle to provide housing in relatively low-cost markets while maintaining a viable long-term investment in their buildings and communities. The moderate rehabilitation required to stabilize these units can be completed at a fraction of the cost of new construction or gut-rehabilitation, yet this neglected housing continues to deteriorate and disappear. These renovation projects have difficulty qualifying for conventional financing and housing subsidies, the former because of inherent financial constraints and the latter because existing subsidy programs favor larger projects, new construction, and home ownership. Yet the success of the states recent construction and home ownership initiatives is likely to depend on preservation of the surrounding rental stock. Promoting investment in these buildings would offer a timely, efficient, and strategic response to housing needs in low- and moderate-income areas, would contribute to the redevelopment of the states cities, and would complement new construction, home ownership, and smart growth initiatives.