Candidate In NJ-8: Let's Fight Wealth Gap With Affordable Housing

BELLEVILLE, NJ — A U.S. Congress candidate in New Jersey’s 8th District is offering a plan to create more affordable housing, which he says will battle a growing wealth gap across the nation, including the Garden State.

Hector Oseguera released his “Affordable Housing For All” plan last week, which he said can directly address an ongoing housing crisis that’s “ravaging cities like Newark, Jersey City, and Elizabeth.” (Read his full statement)

Oseguera, a self-described “progressive,” has declared his candidacy for the Democratic Party primary in June. He’s challenging incumbent Rep. Albio Sires, a Democrat who was elected to his seat in 2006.

New Jersey’s 8th District includes the following municipalities in Bergen, Essex, Hudson and Union counties: Fairview, Belleville, Newark (part), Bayonne (part), East Newark, Guttenberg, Harrison, Hoboken, Jersey City (part), Kearny (part), North Bergen, Union City, Weehawken, West New York and Elizabeth.

Here are some cornerstones of Oseguera’s affordable housing plan:

• Reform an “antiquated” public housing system
• Expand existing programs such as Section 8 and the National Housing Trust
• Reform the estate tax, the capital gains tax on home sales and the corporate tax to fund affordable housing
• Create a tax credit for first time home buyers of color
• Expand funding for the Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity to protect the rights of people of color, women, veterans and the LGBTQ community

Oseguera said his plan is partly inspired by a startling fact: 70 percent of all households in New Jersey’s 8th Congressional District rent their homes.

“I grew up here,” said Oseguera, who was born and raised in Hudson County. “I can remember a time when working class families were able to prosper in our district.”

But times have changed, he said.

“Our current housing crisis is directly responsible for the massive, ever-expanding wealth gap in America,” Oseguera charged. “Local politicians have refused to step up and protect our fellow citizens, so we must take action at the federal level.”

According to Oseguera:

“New Jersey has the 6th highest rent wage in the country. It’s a state where an individual needs to earn $29.00 an hour to afford the average two-bedroom apartment. New Jersey is also the 7th worst state for affordable housing, where almost half of the renters are cost burdened, spending at least 30% of their income on housing. Here in the 8th District, renters make up over 70% of all households. Of those renters, 46% qualify for some form of rent subsidy, earning less than 50% of the area median income (AMI). Of the renters that qualify for a housing subsidy in the 8th District, 56% percent are severely cost burdened, spending at least half of their income on rent. To make matters worse, the 8th District has a deficit of 94,000 affordable housing units.”

“We know what it’s like to have to forgo things,” Oseguera told a crowd of supporters during a recent town hall event in the district. “There’s just not enough to go around.”

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