TRENTON, NJ — The New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency (NJHMFA) has taken bold action to deploy hundreds of millions of federal dollars to create new and preserve existing affordable housing. During its July meeting, the NJHMFA Board authorized the restructuring of 26 financing commitments to ensure that the final remaining projects utilizing the Affordable Housing Production Fund (AHPF), Workforce Housing Program (WFH), and Urban Preservation Program (UPP) would meet the federal expenditure deadline. In total, these projects will create and preserve 1,800-plus affordable housing units.

Of the 26 projects receiving financing recommitments, 20 are utilizing more than $150 million in AHPF financing to create 1,308 new affordable housing units in communities across the state, from Vineland to Paramus. One project, in Trenton, is utilizing $5.1 million in WFH financing to create 120 total units, 48 of which will be affordable to low-to-moderate income households and another 34 of which will be affordable to middle-income households. The remaining five properties are utilizing the UPP to preserve 416 existing affordable housing units at risk of losing their affordability controls. Six of the recommitments were also adjusted to take advantage of new bond financing thresholds authorized by 2025 federal statute changes.

"We thank the New Jersey Legislature for their appropriation of $535 million in State Fiscal Recovery Funds to help us create more than $2 billion in additional housing production and preservation. With the recent actions of our Board, we have cleared the final hurdle to deploy the last of the funds prior to the upcoming federal deadline" said NJHMFA Executive Director Melanie R. Walter. "These recommitments and deal restructurings were extremely complex due to the broader economic circumstances and tight deadlines but, thanks to the efforts of our dedicated multifamily staff, we were able to navigate them and ensure that the last 1,806 affordable and 34 workforce housing units being constructed through these programs will proceed unabated."

The 1,800-plus affordable units assisted by the July Board meeting actions will be built in every corner of the state. The properties, themselves, can be found in Bergen (Closter and Paramus), Burlington (Hainesport and Moorestown), Camden (Cherry Hill), Cumberland (Vineland), Essex (South Orange), Gloucester (East Greenwich and Swedesboro), Hudson (Jersey City), Hunterdon (Clinton and Readington), Mercer (Lawrence and Trenton), Monmouth (Marlboro, Millstone, and Wall), Morris (Rockaway), Salem (Salem), Somerset (Bernardsville), and Union (Rahway) counties.

The Affordable Housing Production Fund, Workforce Housing Program, and Urban Preservation Program were created in the New Jersey fiscal year 2023 budget with a combined appropriation of $435 million in federal State Fiscal Recovery Funds to leverage the 4% Low Income Housing Tax Credit for additional housing production and preservation. The AHPF was supplemented the following fiscal year by another $100 million appropriation in federal funds. By the December 2024 obligation deadline, all of the $535 million had been allocated across 83 projects creating and preserving 6,151 housing opportunities. By mid-October 2026, months ahead of the federal expenditure deadline, the last of the funds will be fully expended. 

About Us: The New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency (NJHMFA) advances the quality of life for residents of and communities throughout New Jersey by investing in, financing, and facilitating access to affordable rental housing and homeownership opportunities for low and moderate-income families, older adults, and individuals with specialized housing needs. To learn more about NJHMFA, visit: njhousing.gov