Groups Back Pilot Program For Tiny Homes To House Homeless

A local photographer who has spent the last few several years documenting the homeless encampments in Lakewood and Howell is urging people to call their New Jersey legislators in support of a bill that would create a pilot program to bring "tiny homes" to areas to help address the issue of homelessness in the state.

New Jersey Senate bill 2110 would create the Tiny Home Pilot Program, establishing one each in the north, central, and south areas of the state. The bill is sponsored by Sens. Raymond Lesniak from Union County and Brian Stack from Hudson County, and was suggested by Sherry Rubel, a photographer from Middlesex County who spent years documenting Lakewood's Tent City, which was home to more than 100 homeless people before Lakewood bulldozed the site and relocated the residents in mid-2014.

"We need affordable housing across this country," Rubel told NJ Spotlight. "This is just a little different from what people normally think of. To solve the problem, you have to get creative, be open to new ideas."

Tiny houses have sprung up across the country and have become trendy, both as a way to own a more affordable house and as a way to downsize and get rid of the clutter in life, with television shows, Facebook pages and a Pinterest category dedicated to the various designs people use to get the most out of a small space.

The proposed Tiny Home Pilot Program, which was sent to the state Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee in December, would task the state's Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency with overseeing the three-year program, which aims to "to assist residents struggling financially and the State's homeless population with acquiring housing through the construction of small, affordable homes."

Towns participating in the pilot would get grants for tiny-home developments and credits toward their affordable housing obligation, according to the bill. An annual income of 30 percent of the area median or less would be required to qualify for the homes, according to the bill. It would spend about $5 million in funds from the federal government or other sources over the three-year pilot, according to the NJ Spotlight report.

Towns' zoning rules would have to be addressed as well, NJ Spotlight noted. A proposal by Ocean Inc. to builda 24-unit tiny home development that would have included 10 micro houses for homeless veterans in Tuckerton was rejected by the town last year.

Affordable housing has been a contentious issue in New Jersey for years. Most recently, towns throughout the state, including several in Ocean County, have reached settlements with the Fair Share Housing Center, a Cherry Hill-based group that has been pushing for more affordable units, on quotas for those towns.

The New Jersey State League of Municipalities and the Fair Share Housing Center both support the idea of the pilot program, according to the NJ Spotlight report.

"Tiny homes are one option that should be available, among many, to help solve New Jersey's housing crisis," Staci Berger, president and CEO of the Housing and Community Development Network of New Jersey, told NJ Spotlight.

Rubel is urging New Jersey residents to get involved and contact state Sen. Paul Sarlo, chairman of the Senate Budget and Appropriations committee to urge him to bring the bill into the budget committee for discussion and a vote. To email Sarlo's office, click here.

Tiny homes are being suggested as one way to help homeless in New Jersey. Photo by Tammy, via Wikimedia Commons under Creative Commons license.